Several studies estimate that the average age at which children get their first phones today is 12 years. Depending on other factors such as availability and financial legroom, that number might be as low as eight years old. While it is a consequence of technological advancement, a good question to ask ourselves is whether it is appropriate.
The online space is rife with digital risks such as cyberbullying, online predators, and screen addiction. The younger they start, the more likely they are to be victims. A segment of parents is now asking if kids need online privacy, like all other users, and the role of platforms like ClevGuard. This article will make a case for and against online privacy for kids.
The Case for Parental Tracking
Before diving deeper into this conversation, it is essential to understand why many parents opt to monitor their children’s devices. Some of the compelling reasons are:
- Combating Cyberbullying: Cyberbullying is rampant online. Cases of trolling have led to some teenagers committing suicide and others having lasting low self-esteem issues. Parents who monitor their children’s devices cite this as one of the key reasons they do it.
- Guarding Against Online Predators: The online space is also home to many predators who masquerade as friendly strangers, targeting younger users. Without parental monitoring, these people are likely to groom children who may not know what is happening to them.
- Protection from Explicit Content: The oversexualization of content is another reason many parents opt to use phone monitoring tools to help filter such content and block websites likely to contain adult or violent content.
- Preventing Screen Addiction: As kids interact with digital devices early on in their lives, they develop a dependency and fail to develop crucial social skills such as empathy. For parents of teenagers and pre-teens, parental tracking also seeks to avoid this.
The existence of these digital risks has led to concerns about how kids can be guided better when using the internet and their devices. Parental control and monitoring solutions like KidsGuard Pro help parents navigate this challenge with advanced capabilities that keep them in the know or automatically fend off risks like explicit content.
For parents looking to keep their kids safe and raise healthy individuals who contribute positively to society, parental monitoring is a must. The trade-off, loss of privacy for the child, is worth it.
The Case for Kids’ Digital Privacy
The flipside of the conversation on parental tracking is the case for kids’ digital privacy. Proponents of this idea base their argument on the following.
- Developmental Needs: Advocates for the digital privacy of kids argue that parental monitoring that disregards the child’s privacy has profound implications for their development. From their point of view, teenagers need to learn to make autonomous decisions, and this can only be achieved through trust and privacy.
- Over-Surveillance Risks: They also argue that when parents monitor their children’s devices excessively, it encourages sneaky behavior resulting from a loss of trust. Additionally, it makes the kids in question develop anxiety disorders.
- Rights-Based Perspective: Another argument is that privacy should be considered a basic right for children. It should therefore never be violated by parents through digital monitoring.
Cultural and Age Considerations
To bridge the divide, it is worth considering different cultures and how they view teenage years in a human’s developmental scale. In some cultures, teenagers are adults who can make firm decisions and should therefore be accorded the respect and privacy they deserve.
In other communities, anyone below 18 is considered a child and therefore has no grounds for refusing what the parent requires. In such cultures, phone tracking ideally happens up to when someone is ready to join college.
But it is important to reach a compromise and reflect on what’s wise. Parental controls can be administered with varying degrees depending on the child’s age. Here, what is appropriate for an 8-year-old child may not automatically resonate for a 16-year-old teenager.
Considering all these factors, what is needed then is a middle point where a parental control app can be used for the right intention on the right child.
A Balanced Approach: Supervision vs Surveillance
Parenting experts recommend a balanced approach to this topic. One of the leading suggestions they make is to be open about the tracking. Children appreciate openness and may use it as a guiding point for sharing other risks they encounter online. Parents should endeavor to explain to their children why their devices need to be tracked and what will be tracked.
A case can also be made for digital literacy. Parents need to invest in resources that help children familiarize themselves with digital risks and cybersecurity concepts. Developing this knowledge allows them to appreciate the need for phone monitoring. Moreover, it helps in self-regulation to avoid cases of screen addiction.
It is also vital to use legit phone monitoring tools that allow for consent-based tracking. Such apps are more transparent and give the child an option to opt into the process, allowing them to own their decisions and be more invested in the monitoring.
Parents are also encouraged to learn about how to set healthy boundaries when monitoring their children’s devices. Again, the issue of age-appropriateness comes up. With access to the child’s phone thanks to monitoring tools, parents should only track the essential and endeavor to respect their children’s privacy.
Reframing the conversation and perception around technology is also key. Monitoring tools should be seen as a way to educate and not as digital traps or punishments for misbehaving teenagers. Positive reinforcement when children self-regulate or identify risks and report to parents should also be promoted.
Conclusion
As a parent, you must protect your child online. But in the process of doing so, it is worth considering that they have a right to privacy that should be respected. Phone tracking should be part of a broader strategy of parenting in the modern world, as opposed to a conclusive solution to a problem.
We encourage you to rethink what you know about phone monitoring and incorporate some of the ideas we’ve covered in this article. Not only will this help you raise more digitally literate kids, it will also help give them autonomy and help you maximize the benefits of tools like KidsGuard Pro.
