GPS Enabled Phones Enable Bad Parenting?

Parents have been starting to equip their children and teens with GPS enabled phones from Sprint and Verizon Wireless, and while this gives parents a bit of piece of mind, I really don’t think it is a replacement for good communication.

You should be able to ask where your child is going, and not have to look it up using the GPS on their cell phone. While this could help parents find children that have been abducted, most teens are going to see it as an invasion of privacy, and no doubt, if they are doing some wrong, they are going to take out the battery from the phone, making you unable to track where they go, or even just leave the phone at their friends place, and when you call, they won’t be there. The excuse will be that they forgot to turn the ringer on.

Honestly, as parents try to take shortcuts in parenting due to their busy schedule, they really can’t be frustrated when their shortcuts leave them feeling even more detached from the children they want to protect and help grow into responsible adults.

Robbie Blinkoff, a consumer anthropologist who has studied cell phone usage among parents and teens has been quoted as saying, “there should be a model where parents negotiate the deeal with kids as to what the phone will be used for, on both sides.”

Without communication, “technology gets in the way of just having a decent social relationship.” What’s more, Blinkoff says, while it appears that the cell phone is often an instrument of rebellion for kids, it can also help youngsters foster bonds with parents. “It often tethers the relationship,” he says.

I am not saying that you should not buy the GPS enabled devices for your children and teens, but I am saying that you have to be careful how you use it. It is one thing if it is used for safety, but another if it is used to keep tabs on them because you don’t have time to actually communicate. Heck, use the cell phone you gave them and chat with from time to time to see how they are doing without being too intrusive.

June 15th, 2006 Posted by David in Article at 6:09 pm Comment Now! »
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