By: Leanna Yu, Culture Editor
In this current tech-savvy generation, parents have discovered a new way to “track” their kids, by using the device that most teenagers cannot go anywhere without: their phone. With new apps available to be installed, such as Life360 and Find My Friends, parents can check up on their children and determine their exact location. Life360 is a family networking app that was launched in 2008 that allows family members to share their locations with each other to make communication easier, even if their phone is not on. Similar to Life360, Apple Inc. also provides Find My Friends for iPhone users to share their locations with whoever they want for up-to-date information on specific locations.
There are many reasons why families could choose to use location tracking services. One Mills parent, Lena Yu, a parent who uses Find My Friends on the iPhone with her two daughters and husband, stated that she only uses location sharing for safety purposes. “If someone in my family is out late, I can easily find them on the map and make sure that they are safe without having to bother them with a text.” Not only do parents like to use the app, but some teenagers find it to be convenient as well.
Expressing this viewpoint, Anjuli Niyogi, an incoming sophomore, said, “The service is also useful when your parents are driving to pick you up, and you want to know how far or close they are to you.”
In contrast, a major concern teenagers express of sharing their location with their parents is that they obsess with their whereabouts. This can be a commonly held belief among teens that parents only want to install these apps because their parents don’t trust them. However, if teenagers do not agree to use the apps, their parents might think that the teenagers are trying to hide something from their parents. A random survey conducted by the Mills Thunderbolt revealed that out of 94 Mills students who use location tracking apps with their parents, 56% are not comfortable with their parents using it on them.
However, Alohi Sheung, another incoming sophomore, commented, “I am totally fine with using location sharing apps with my parents because they do not use it to stalk me. They only use it to know where I am.” With open communication and honesty about using location tracking services, sharing locations inside families could be beneficial.
There should be a balance between allowing kids to have freedom and addressing safety concerns. Ultimately, it is up to students and their parents to discuss boundaries and decide whether location tracking is the right fit for their relationship.
