Role of Parents in Relation to a Children's Rights
Parental spyware is effective and helpful to our society. It is a method in which parents, disregarding their children's privacy and rights, spy on their children to create an illusion of protection from the assumed dangers of the internet adolescents face every single day. 16% of adolescents are faced with this brutal monitoring and surveillance from their own parents, leaving only 84% of these children free to experience the wonders of the world without a parent constantly watching over their shoulders (Pew Research Center). Because real life is not a daunting or treacherous place as overprotective parents would like to imagine, but a haven for creativity and expression-no place for parental
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In the article "Big Brother Meets Big Mother", Ellen Goodman, a parent, lists the overwhelming amount of spyware methods parents are adding to their "family-friendly arsenal"; including GPS tracking, applications that monitor children's grades and messages, and finally, a "chip implanted under your child's skin" (Goodman par. 3,6). Parents have gone too far, wanting to micromanage every miniscule detail regarding their children's lives, never allowing them a chance to breathe without their knowledge. However, children deserve a certain level of privacy, to live and learn from their mistakes; and parents need to respect that confidentiality, trusting that they raised their children in a correct way to protect themselves from anything they encounter. Because of the fears and dangers that spyware presents, "we [are] raising a generation with low expectations of public privacy" (Goodman par. 13). Every day, adolescents are faced with online stalking from governments, potential employers, the police, and Google; parents should not be added to the list. Homes are the last refuges of privacy; letting a parent use spyware to stalk their children violates their protection and rights to privacy within their own house. This would create a society without any privacy whatsoever; a society that always has someone watching over them like a vulture. This is why spyware is harmful to American society because it violates a child's …show more content…
First of all, parental spyware does little to advance a child's security, "how easy is in to drop the GPS jacket by the roadside?" (Goodman par. 12). Spyware does not work-it does not further the protection of a child's internet presence nor is it part of a parent's responsibility; no sane individual would fall in support of such a dangerous and backstabbing weapon -with high casualties and no results. Spyware can be easily detected by any antivirus software, and countermeasures are already employed for children to bypass this software. Even if spyware can be considered a protection to modern society, parental oversight is enough-"more presence=the need for less spying" (Wallace par. 32). Using spyware has turned parents' watchful eye into a harmful one. Their only job is to raise their children correctly and to oversee their well-being through real-life interaction, not through online hacking and stalking. And respecting their parental boundaries, parents will be raising and protecting their children in a safe way, without compromising the sanctity of their privacy or
The expansion of the Internet infrastructure across the world, has brought an increased audience. Which has provided expanded markets for businesses and exploited new opportunities. There are virtually countless social sites and media used by individuals to access and share experiences , content, insights, and perspectives. Parents today tend to believe they should spy on their kids online activity. I argue parents should respect the privacy of a child's social life and his/her internet activity.
Internet is advancing every day, parents have no idea what their kids are doing in cyberspace and are contemplating the idea of spyware. In the article, “The Undercover Parent” by Harlan Coben, he argues the idea of parents putting spyware on kids’ computer is a good idea to keep the child safe. Many American parents have no idea what happens in cyberspace; sex, bullying, and drugs. Parents are torn between protecting their child with spyware and allowing the child to have privacy. Coben uses his friends’ personal experiences to support his argument without leaving room for counterarguments. By using strong emotional appeals, weak qualifiers, and sugary word choice Coben creates a weak argument that lacks persuasion.
“Do you wish you’d grown up with your mom tracking your every move? If not don’t do it to your own kid.” states Lenore Skenazy in her persuasive article Tracking Kids like Felons. These words draw an immediate comparison to “the golden rule” or “treat others how you want to be treated.” In this article Skenazy evaluates a personal-tracking app called FamilySignal. As the readers we see the author’s take on this specific point in the very first sentence when she uses sarcasm on the word “safe.” Skenazy does not give too many facts but she does base most of her article off of morals, which may even be more persuasive. Even in today’s day and age tracking ones every step is definitely not ok, even with the advanced technology that we have.
Online predators, pornography, drug trafficking, piracy, and hate sites are just some of the dangers that a child can face on the internet. The article “The Undercover Parent” by Harlan Coben states that parents should use spyware to monitor their children. Coben argues that parents should be able to know what is in their children’s lives. he believes that spyware can prevent children from being targeted by internet predators on social networking sites and even prevent children from being cyber bullied. I agree with Coben’s claim that parents should consider using spyware as a protection for their teens online. There are many possible dangers facing children on the internet and it is essential that parents install spyware.
Some parents care about their children but don’t care about the drama going on at school or who their best friend likes. I can see how parents think it’s an invasion of privacy and some feel like if the child found out about the software they wouldn’t trust their parents because who knows what else they could be hiding. So as a parent I could see why they wouldn’t want to put spyware on their teen’s computer because they are invading in the privacy of their kid.
While not always seen, overall, teenagers get far less privacy than adults do. Between schools checking through the belongings of their students without solid evidence to allow it, or parents monitoring the activity of their children online, teenagers today are subject to much of their privacy being taken away. It is true that this can sometimes be helpful in busting drug dealers or keeping teenagers from getting involved with bad habits online. However, it can also have an adverse effect, ruining the relationship between a parent and his or her child, or other relationships throughout the rest of the teenager’s life. Teenagers should be allowed more privacy, if not as much as adults have, as it will keep them less fearful, as well as help to keep their interpersonal relationships strong and their emotions in a good state.
¨The Undercover Parent¨ by Harlan Coben, published in an online newspaper ¨New York Times¨ (16 March 2008), claims that the Internet is dangerous for kids. Harlan Coben explains how spyware could be a resource that keeps track of our kids’ internet use, but how it could also invade sons’ and daughters’ privacy. He also claims that parents should have conversations about their concerns with teens, and let them know spyware is a possibility. In my opinion, I quite agree and do not agree with the most of it.
“While most teenagers (60 percent) spend on average 20 hours per week in front of television and computer screens, a third spend closer to 40 hours per week, and about 7 percent are exposed to more than 50 hours of 'screen-time' per week”(Many Teens Spend). Many parents agree that they would rather not have their children view indecencies on the Internet and television, and the government should control the obscenities on the Internet. Others believe that it is the parent’s responsibility to control and censor what their children are watching on the Internet and television.
The United States government’s welfare program is potentially sending the government down the drain. The U.S. alone is in millions of dollars of debt, and the welfare program is not helping to get the country out of debt but further into debt. Over half of the American population is currently receiving some sort of benefit, and not every person receiving these benefits needs the money. We live in a selfish society. A society where we would do anything and everything to gain a little extra money so we will not have to work for it. The welfare system the United States currently runs is not proper or right. The welfare system is corrupted and full with cheats and frauds benefitting from taxpayers money.
...pornography with such ease, parents are going to have to figure out a way to keep their children off these sites. The only other option is coming home and finding them looking at something they shouldn't. Because some children, given the opportunity, are going to seek out these sites, even if you ask them not to. After all, children will be children.
In most cases, parents cannot censor what their children read online, what sites they visit, what kind of people they chat with, or the things they purchase. Accessing the Internet means accessing violent material, by means of reading and watching. Basically, a parent does not have control over what their child does. There are no restrictions on marketing products such as alcohol, tobacco, and arms to children- Marketing deceptively collects personal information from kids in order to sell products to them or their parents. Requests for personal information for contests and surveys that are used in unauthorized ways often may occur.
However, sensitive information that may be shared might later embarrass the children as they grow older and realize what is available on the internet. Such events may result in resentment and misunderstandings on both the children and the parents’ sides. According to Steinberg (2017) in “Sharenting: Children’s Privacy in the Age of Social Media,” there have been long-term issues and conflicts regarding parental sharing and whether children have the right to control what is shared about them. Another long-term problem raised by parental sharing is the idea of data collecting. Per “Children’s Privacy in the Big Data Era: Research Opportunities,” “These trends raise serious concerns about digital dossiers that could follow young people into adulthood, affecting their access to education, employment, healthcare, and financial services. Although US privacy law provides some safeguards for children younger than 13 years old online, adolescents are afforded no such protections” (Montgomery, Chester, & Milosevic, 2017, p.
Everybody knows everybody, and those "every bodies" know exactly what is going on anywhere in the world at the touch of a button. The definition of privacy has been greatly altered and we need to wake up to spot this difference. Just like technology it is evolving into more complex concepts and ideas and requires more ways to classify the word. These youth that are being raised with technology are in a sense losing their rights and privileges to privacy as walls are being broken down day after day.
There are programs available to those parents who feel it is necessary to monitor their childs use of the Internet. Cybersitter can be purchased for around $39.95, and can help to regulate your web browser keeping your childs access to the world wide web restricted. There is even and option in which incoming and outgoing e-mails for inappropriate material.
These individuals feel that it is an invasion of the teenagers’ right to privacy and the development of their trustworthiness. Kay Mathieson states “only by giving children privacy will they come to see their thoughts as something that belongs to them – to which they have an exclusive right.” In the United States and according to the law, monitoring the internet usage of a minor does not break any laws and is a moral obligation of the parent. Trustworthiness is an important development of a child to learn in order to develop genuine relationships with others in the lifetime. “Not only does monitoring have the great potential to undermine the trust of the child in the parent, and thus to undermine trust in others more generally, it also has the potential to undermine the capacity of the child to be worth of trust” (Mathieson). If the parent has not already had conversations with the teenager about monitoring internet usage and the parent is not telling the child about the monitoring, there is already an issue with the development of trustworthiness in the teenager. There was already a failure of development of this skill before the internet or internet monitoring was introduced.