Over half of parents of 18-25 year-olds track adult children w smartphone apps

npr.org

6 points·bookofjoe··2 comments

What does "track" mean here and the always on suggestion seems odd. Our daughters all have Apple products. All of them have "find my" turned on. This is because they regularly can't remember where they set their phones, watches, or ear buds down. They also keep their ringers off as they can't have them on during school but "find my" can still force a sound which is how they find the device they "lost".

I can and have used it to see where they are and if they are on their way home for dinner. Am I "tracking them" in some kind of dystopian manner? Many apps track the owner will little to no benefit to the user. Is that somehow ok when it is creepy for a parent to do?

Honestly, half the time I feel like we live in manufactured crisis to manufactured crisis.

> I can and have used it to see where they are and if they are on their way home for dinner. Am I "tracking them" in some kind of dystopian manner?

Yes. Did they ask you to spy on their location?

> Many apps track the owner will little to no benefit to the user. Is that somehow ok when it is creepy for a parent to do?

It's not okay. This type of tracking isn't demanded or desired by the end user as it's silently forced upon them. Some people don't care but some people do and avoid using apps that track or install privacy preserving software.

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