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What Constant Surveillance Is Doing to Children

35 points FinnLobsien 2 hours ago 22 comments

RataNova 1 hour ago | parent

Modern marketing just preys on parental guilt. If you don't buy a $300 sensor or track your kid's location every second, they subtly make you feel like an irresponsible parent.

It's actually sad for kids. In childhood being able to stay out a bit longer, solve sudden problems without calling mom, or just sit alone taught you how to cope with the world. But if someone monitors a child all the way to their college dorm door, it's unclear how they're supposed to develop personal autonomy at all

jareklupinski 42 minutes ago | parent

> being able to stay out a bit longer, solve sudden problems without calling mom, or just sit alone

none of these are prevented when you have an airtag in your pocket

my hesitation is from knowing these _dont_ work: by the time airtag shows where someone actually is that isnt a 500m circle, you can see them with your analog eyes :/

embedding-shape 36 minutes ago | parent

> none of these are prevented when you have an airtag in your pocket

When I was about 8 years old I was allowed to go with the bus by myself between my mom and my dad.

I can remember two times I fell asleep on the bus, and ended up some other place, and had to figure out how to get home from there, by myself.

I'm sure of the technology was available at the time, my mom would have placed an airtag on me, and without a doubt, would have seen me miss my bus-stop and jumped into her car to pick me up wherever I ended up. Bless her heart, but I'd miss the opportunity of figuring it out by myself.

Of course, just one silly example, but I could see if this was constantly happening, a child might get accustomed to this "saving" being automatic, and not even trying to solve things yourself because you know your parent will come save the day. Until they don't, of course.

htrp 32 minutes ago | parent

already a thing.... look at the problem solving skills of some of the fresh grads

jareklupinski 20 minutes ago | parent

> I can remember two times I fell asleep on the bus, and ended up some other place, and had to figure out how to get home from there, by myself.

if it involved asking a business (car service in my case) to let you use their phone, or already having a quarter and using a payphone to call mom... thats an airtag :)

> a child might get accustomed to this "saving" being automatic

i dont fear a perfectly functioning society; im an adult and am also used to 911/999/etc being available. some people watch Demolition Man and get the wrong idea...

mschuster91 11 minutes ago | parent

> if it involved asking a business (car service in my case) to let you use their phone, or already having a quarter and using a payphone to call mom... thats an airtag :)

No. An airtag works for your mom no matter if you want it or not, some payphone on the street places the agency about calling help into your hands.

blitzar 5 minutes ago | parent

> having a quarter and using a payphone to call mom

I had enough coins for 2 phone calls in a sealed envelope in my school bag for emergencies - probably still in the bottom of my bag wherever it may be.

usrnm 32 minutes ago | parent

> none of these are prevented when you have an airtag in your pocket

Do you want to install an app on your phone that will track you and your online activities for the government? They won't interfere, they just want to know what you're up to and help. Children are people and want some privacy too. I know I did.

paganel 18 minutes ago | parent

> none of these are prevented when you have an airtag in your pocket

It instills a Panopticum-like philosophy in said kids since their very early ages, meaning they become aware that they're being watched at every moment of their lives. In my opinion that does affect said kids' future look on life (once they will have become adults, that is).

jareklupinski 14 minutes ago | parent

> It instills a Panopticum-like philosophy in said kids since their very early ages

Santa Claus has been around since before airtags; you dont need technology to make kids fearful of invisible retribution, just a clever song ("he sees you when youre sleeping, he knows when youre awake")

madaxe_again 30 minutes ago | parent

Most marketing for most things preys on guilt, fear, and avarice - negative emotions are uncomfortable, and you first create the negative emotion in the target's mind, and then sell them the solution, to alleive their discomfort.

I was a kid who wandered. Sometimes through bear infested forests at night. Sometimes through abandoned factories with collapsing roofs. Sometimes to the homes of people my parents strongly disapproved of.

I lived. So did pretty much everyone else. I had a few significant fuck-ups. I learned from them, and didn't repeat them. In my childhood, I knew one kid who died from misadventure - grain silo - and many who died from disease - meningitis, cancer, sepsis. Perhaps parents should keep their children in protective plastic bubbles, if they're going to be consistent about it.

My kid - no tracking, and autonomy that I see makes other parents writhe with discomfort, as they're like "she'll be stolen! Her kidneys!", and I'm going "you guys don't understand statistics, and your kids are going to live with you until you die, and lead stunted lives".

blitzar 13 minutes ago | parent

Many decades ago - there was barely a dangerous / dumb thing you could do roaming my neighbourhood that the network of mothers wouldn't relay back by the time you got home.

mschuster91 5 minutes ago | parent

yeah and that filter is the point - only the truly dangerous stuff would make it back to your mom, but nothing else.

doright 8 minutes ago | parent

Being accused of hurting children is a social death sentence. Parents don't want to be accused. Politicians don't want to be accused. Nobody ever does.

So parents keep their children indoors for fear of being arrested from them crossing the street on their own. Politicians are unable to renege on "child safety" laws because the populace will believe they are harming children and vote them out.

But these things work the way they are because of the social consequences embedded in our culture, caused by the perceived harm to children from inaction.

someothherguyy 40 minutes ago | parent

the article doesn't actually state what it is doing to children?

childofhedgehog 30 minutes ago | parent

https://archive.is/opw0i