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Is Using a Parental Control App to Track Kids, A Smart Choice?
Large scale studies have found that we are actually having a best-behaved generation of teens raised on record. Now, teens are less likely to have themselves indulged in old risks such as trying, having unsafe and unusual sex, experimenting with dangerous drugs, smoking, and other stuff.
They are now most likely to stay home maybe because they have got everything in their smartphones. They can connect with their friends and have entertainment. And yet, parents are now more stressed-out than ever about their teens’ habits and are running towards the app to track kids.
In the old days, parents used to be concerned about their teens going outside too much, spending extra time with friends and indulging in wrong activities. But now that they are “stay at home” teens, parents are still worried about them. In fact, parents are now more worried and stressed out. The question is, “Is digital media more dangerous than the physical dangers”?
Do You Need An App to Track Kids?
This concern is rising at a high rate, maybe because it seems that teens are losing their sense of reality. They are so much lost in their social lives that they seldom care about what actually is going around them. However, the use of parental control apps has made things easy for parents.
If you are a parent of a teen and using a parental control app you will know what type of conversation your daughter is having with her friend, or you will know the nature of the party your daughter is attending at her high school.
You can know if your kids are at a safe place with better people instead of just hanging out doing dangerous things. You can follow their location, search their web browsing history, read their conversation, and know what type of content they are posting online.
Now it is completely true that teens nowadays are easier going with their peers and often ignore any possible dangers. They also seem to have a taunting behavior with their parents and are too much sneaky. Now, parents only wonder how sneaky they are being, what they are hiding, and how to protect them.
Back in the old days, kids were so opaque in front of the parents, and that is the reason why parents used to sleep well. And now, they are worried that the cell phone they handed to their kids might be damaging them.
For today’s parents, taking care of teens comes with the responsibility of supervising them in the digital world as well. In addition to their physical well-being and basic necessities, these responsibilities have also become a big concern. And, yet it is very clear that keeping a check on their social media lives have made parents worried about them more and enjoy with them less.
How Do You Need to Be Prepared?
Keeping a check on social media activities of teens is like doing their full digital scan. Doing so comes with so much information that might need the patience to handle. You are more likely to know future possible threats and dangers, information that is difficult to interpret.
It is, however, very beneficial to know things beforehand, but it might be accompanied by stress and anxiety. Not to forget that this is the stage where parents are trying hard to build and maintain trust with their kids. You need to be very calm and supportive about any information that you come across when you start tracking their phones.
Lisa Damour, a psychologist, and writer talk about her 16-year old patient. She showed up at her appointment after having a fight with her parents. She told her that her parents were tracking her location and found out that she was at a boys’ school. It was a spontaneous decision made by her group and there was nothing risky going on there. After catching up with her friends at the parking lot, she headed home.
She was welcomed with anger and a lot of questions that made no sense to her. Why would she answer for everything? Didn’t they trust her? She got so hurt that her parents didn’t trust her choices at all when they actually knew what type of girl she was. She described that two things were clear in her mind; her parents had gathered more information than needed for her well-being and they needed to be told that the crisis did not always come at once.
In other cases, there are parents who just found out about their teens’ wrong actions by tracking them. They trusted their teens so much and that resulted in disappointments. So, are these parents wrong to track and monitor their teens’ digital activities? Not really. Teens are difficult creatures and they need to be handled carefully. But sometimes, parents need to show their strict side when there is extremely wrong going on with their teens.
How Closely Should You Monitor Their Digital Lives?
How closely should you monitor your kids’ digital lives? And how often should you track them? There is no one for all answers to these questions. It depends on parents and their understanding of their teens. You might be having teens who are responsible and reasonable about their choices and actions. Or you might have ones who are impulsive and all emotional about their priorities. You can’t put both of these categories from the same procedure.
That’s why, when it is about using a parental control app, though it is a smart choice, it should be done with strategies and proper understanding. It is up to you how to handle your teens with such apps. If your teen is already rebellious and repulsive, you cannot put them through this making them drift away more. And, if they are good and sensible, you can talk to them about these things.
Regardless of how much you use a parental control app, nothing is fruitful compared to the love and understanding with the teens. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get help from these apps. You should use the parental control app for teens safety but in a way that brings no harm to your relationship with your teens.
First, understand them then have a good relationship with them. Once you have established that, let them confide in you. Tell them why you need to track them and that you are not putting any restrictions on them.
Reference articles:
https://time.com/5523239/parenting-behavior-technology-social-media/
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/29/well/family/should-you-track-your-teens-location.html
https://www.professorshouse.com/tracking-your-teens/
