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Technology and adolescence
Essay on identity in adolescence
The physical, cognitive, and social changes of adolescence allow the teenager to develop the identity that will serve as a basis for their adult lives
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Imagine having every move tracked and having someone watch everything being done on your phone. Total invasion of privacy right? But few may know that many parents actually do this with their kids. With the rise of technology, some parents may have technology comparable to what the FBI supposedly does. If many people are outraged by what the government is doing, what makes it okay for parents to treat their kids this way? Although they are able, parents should not monitor their children’s social media accounts, cell phones, or location. When parents monitor their kids, it not only shows that they don’t trust them, but it also causes the child to have mistrust in their parents if they find out on their own that they’re being tracked. John …show more content…
In an article called “Spying on your kid’s phone with Teensafe will only undermine trust” written by Tonya Rooney, she mentions how kids become affected. She states “It also goes against the growing body of evidence that shows that – unless trusted to take risks – children are losing the very skills they need to navigate the world and deal with the genuine risks they will encounter” (Rooney). Many parents may not know this, but it is a big issue. They are all blinded by trying to protect their kids from everything, that they don’t see the negative effects of their actions, and most times don’t consider the child’s feelings when it comes down to monitoring everything they do. In another article written by Kirsten Weir called “Parents Shouldn’t Spy on Their Kids,” she makes a good point on how children's’ development is a big part in this argument as well. It states “Adolescence is a critical time in kids’ lives, when they need privacy and a sense of individual space to develop their own identities. It can be almost unbearable for parents to watch their children pull away. But as tempting as it may be for parents to infiltrate the dark corners of their children’s personal lives, there’s good evidence that snooping does more harm than good” …show more content…
It is true that children will require guidance for a little while, as they do in real life, but at a certain point, they will need to be able to learn to navigate the internet by themselves, while being educated on the dangers. Alon Schwartz, as a father also says “I firmly believe that children need to learn how to manage their own online presence — what to say, share, download, upload, and what not to say, share, and upload” (Shwartz). Most parents should feel this way, because if you want them to become independent in the real world, you firsts have to let them become independent in their online
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.
To begin with, many parents look for a connection with the author when it comes to subjects dealing with children and privacy. Coben’s targeted audiences are parents of adolescent children. Coben says “Loving Parents are doing surveillance here, not faceless bureaucrats” to slowly unhook any minds that aren’t already on board with spyware. The mention of pedophiles, porn, and teenage drug use are emotional appeals that will reach out to parents. Coben does well with identifying his audience but fails to establish credibility. In some cases Coben was being unrealistic, take for example a “Straight A” teenage girl sleeping with her dealer and using drugs are going to get parents attention but the reaction of the father may make them falter in reasoning. Not many parents in their right minds would calmly go to their daughter and just talk, there would be more yelling and rebelling involved. People need the truth just writing it off and down playing a serious situation as an after school sitcom will cause people to los...
He tells a brief story about his friend, who through using spyware, found out that not only was his college-bound daughter using drugs but that she was sleeping with her dealer. As tragic as this story may be, the words “college-bound” imply that the daughter is (or nearing) the legal adult age of eighteen. While it is important to teach one’s children the difference between right and wrong, there also comes a time where they have to use the tools their parents have equipped them with to make decisions for themselves. Although one could argue that it is a good thing the father confronted the daughter about her problem before it got too out of hand, one cannot help but wonder what in the daughter’s upbringing could have led her down such a path. Sure the father stopped the situation before it ruined his daughter’s life, but the entire situation most likely could have been avoided completely without the use of spyware. There are, after-all, ways to be an effective, inspiring, and supporting parent without spying on the child’s every online
“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.
“Maybe it’s the word: spyware. It brings up associations of Dick Cheney sitting in a dark room, rubbing his hands together and reading your most private thoughts”. In the article “The Undercover Parent”, writer and father, Harlan Coben argues that parents spying on teens is a good precaution to take. Coben was very indecisive on whether spyware was a good concept to use to find out things about your teen, though, in the end, he concluded that it was a good solution, but conditions had to be enforced. Coben illustrates the point that the internet is a dangerous place, not everything on the internet is private, and it's a parental responsibility to know what your child is doing. For the most part, I agree with Coben, but I still do disagree with
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.
In conclusion, it is important that parents give their freedom to make sure kids learn to be independent and now days most teens spend a lot of their time in the internet so by parents not letting them have their privacy there, they are taking over all their lives without even giving them a chance to “explored their identity and the world” like Boyd mention. Parents, need to realize that by over protecting their kids is like sending them to war without weapons because they will not know how to confront the world and worst of all they will not know they things they are capable of doing by themselves.
In the modern world, technology makes everything easier. They make finding information easy to meeting new people. This is great for those wanting new adventures, but unfortunate to those who come across false information. Teens are most susceptible to such information, and adults are trying to combat this. Parents, have gone from asking their children, to instead monitoring or “spying” on their children. In the article, “the undercover parent”, by harlan coben, coben states how parents must monitor their children in order for them to have a healthy childhood. I disagree with his statements as it is only an invasion of privacy. It can also be a sign of bad parenting and can show an unhealthy relationship between parent and child. Not to mention
In other words, children will not be able to freely do anything online knowing their parents are watching their every move. In fact, by not giving children privacy, you essentially treat them like an object and not a human being. As a matter of fact, spying on children will most likely make them feel violated. For example, being a student in high school who obtains straight A’s, participates in extracurricular activities, and has never had any run-ins with dangerous substances such as drugs or alcohol, I would assume I earned the right to having privacy from my parents. However, my parents recently began to confiscate my phone everyday after school for no apparent reason. Provided that, my parents have made me very furious for having the need to punish me by taking my phone away with no explanation whatsoever. As a result of this, it has created distrust between my parents and
If my parents decided to get a tracker and watched me what I was doing, I would not care about it at all. My parents has brought me up in a good way. My personal demeanors are neutral, and I do not have a concrete position about tracking their kids.
Another reason for not censoring the internet is the psychological effects that it can have on a child. The filtering of the internet can tell a child that adults do not trust them to surf the net on their own. This can lead them to believe that they can not make their own decisions, and that a computer determines what right and wr...
From the perspective of adolescents and teenagers growing up in such a hyper-connected world, having a smartphone just seems like a necessity, something that all parents feel obliged to giving to their child at a young age, should they have to contact them in case of emergency. But when can an item such as a smartphone turn into a device that sucks away confidence, self pride and the overall well-being of a child? A device that is making a child fear when it should be used in order to help them feel safe. This is what can happen when you introduce social media to children who do understand how to fully use it safely; who don’t understand the implications and consequences that come with silly mistakes made through social media but also don’t
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.
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.