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Many parents and caregivers have recently turned to tracking devices to keep tabs on children old enough to wander away but too young for a phone.

Trackers are being placed in backpacks, on bikes, or directly on kids for extra accuracy, and some parents sew them into jackets as an ever-increasing paranoia settles over our kids’ safety.

The Big Brother approach has even spawned a market for companies that sell hundreds of colorful tracker ‘holders’, including wristbands, keychains, lanyards, and pins.

The favourite seems to be the inexpensive Apple AirTags, which are meant to find things like lost keys or a purse left behind in a coffee shop. They work by pinging any nearby Apple devices that can upload the recent location to the internet.

Apple clearly stated that they were not to be used for children or pets, only inanimate objects, but the small print isn’t stopping people from ‘tagging’ their little ones. The gadgets are now also being used by caregivers for people with dementia or Alzheimer’s.

There’s a growing market of GPS devices designed for children, like the Jiobit tracker and Gizmo watch, which are more expensive, but have direct cellular connections for better accuracy.

Some folks aren’t too happy with this ‘overboard surveillance’, as tracking children can be a tricky subject. But it may still be a better option than allowing your five-year-old to walk around with a smartphone. Many adults trying AirTags first say they are most worried about access to social media, online bullying and everything else that comes with a real phone.

AirTags offer a low-tech way to put off the inevitable.

Experts have long been worried about the impact of more restrictive parenting on children’s mental health and development.

“Over the last four or five decades, there’s been a huge decline in children’s freedom to do things on their own,” said Peter Gray, a research professor in psychology and neuroscience at Boston College who studies children’s play. “To do things like walk to school by themselves, take public transit without some adult, even have a part-time job or play in the park without being constantly monitored by adults.”

There’s also an amplification of dangers in viral stories and increased pressure on parents to keep their children 100 percent safe from risk — an impossible task that cranks up already high anxiety.

The result of too much control and monitoring, however, is children who struggle with anxiety and depression and who may find it difficult to feel in charge of their own lives. Ask any Gen X or boomer about their childhood and you’ll likely hear stories of wandering around in the street until it got dark, or you got called for dinner.

For some, low-tech tracking options aren’t necessarily a tool to monitor children. They’re a practical way to see where everyone is, as well as a way to afford children some of the same freedom their parents had as kids, before a walk alone outside became so terrifying.

Others have said the trackers are only normalising the idea that kids can never be safe unless monitored.

“If your parents trust and believe in you, that’s an incredible gift. With tracking devices there’s no way to prove you’re trustworthy.”

Paranoid parents have been a windfall for the tech industry. In addition to location tracking, the industry is spending a lot of time and focused on home surveillance systems, baby trackers, fall alerts, and all kinds of SOS features for contacting emergency services over satellite.

No matter where you go or what you do, someone will be looking out for you, and be able to find you.

For some, this might give comfort and lessen the paranoia in a seemingly ever-hostile world. For others, it reeks of George Orwell. Both may have a point.

[source:washingtonpost]