The recent scandal connected with Disney being sued for spying on kids without parental permission has attracted much attention in the media. In short, a concerned parent sued the famous company for collecting some information about her kid with the help of mobile games made by the company and several developers. The corporation could trace some personal data contained in the phone storage as any cell phone tracker does. The company collected information about her child via advertising SDKs without any permission from the parents. It was not the first time Disney neglected federal law.
Should Parents Check Their Child’s Phone
Parents were outraged because they discovered their children’s safety and data were not as solid and unbreakable as they seemed. The children were confused. The publicity demanded justice. However, everybody forgot about their skeletons in the closet. Parents constantly track kids with the help of numerous monitoring applications, allowing them to:
- To see the location of their kids.
- To learn what their offspring want to do.
- To read chats and SMS
- To learn about the child’s friends and acquaintances.
It is similar to the Disney company’s invasion of your children’s private lives, isn’t it? That is why learning all the pros and cons of using any monitoring application is vital.
How to spy on your kids?
Why Shouldn’t Parents Monitor Their Children’s Internet Use
Do you prefer to spy on kids? Should parents monitor cell phones? It’s a question of debate.
Setting up a monitoring program for your children’s mobile phones or laptops can damage your relationships and lead to a lack of trust.
So, what can happen when you decide to apply spy software?
Many psychiatrists say that modern parents are too obsessed with the idea of controlling every step and action of their children.
Excessive use of such monitoring programs can be bad for you because you will stop trusting your kids and become obsessed with their personal lives.
There are many inappropriate apps that parents should know about.
Reasons Why Parents Should Not Monitor Their Children’s Internet Use
When kids learn that you spy on them and know everything about their private lives and Internet activity, they can do the following:
- They will find a way to cheat, so you won’t be able to control them anymore. Many children and teenagers do everything intentionally. So, when they learn about the program, they may become rude or antagonistic to teach you a lesson and prove that they were right. They may stop talking to you or become hurt by the lack of freedom and trust.
- They will hide their secrets from you, and restoring their trust won’t be easy. Children can be creative when it comes to hiding information, and they will find millions of other ways to keep their private lives secret.
- The discovery that parents track them constantly may induce children to run away from home and sever all ties with the family. Many teenagers have done this before, and you certainly don’t want your child to experience this, do you?
Even when parents understand all the dangers of using such monitoring applications, they still want to know how to prevent any troubles or decisions that threaten their children’s life and health.
We can say that the moderate use of tracking applications is ok when applied reasonably, and it can help you take care of your closest ones.
Should Parents Spy on Their Children’s Emails and Texts
The most important benefit of using tracking or monitoring applications moderately is freedom.
Psychologists argue that people learn from their mistakes and experiences, whether bad or good.
That is why it is critically important to give your kids a chance to learn a precious life lesson on their own.
So, try to spy less on your kids and let them grow and mature as they build their personality and social skills.
However, if you suspect that something bad will happen, you can still install monitoring software to save your child from great danger.
Do parents have the right to look through your phone? The answer is YES.
You can easily detect the following troubles by applying a great spy app:
- Drug addiction. If you have noticed that your son or daughter behaves unusually or looks sick, try to determine whether he or she takes drugs by reading messages and chats. Besides, you can even restore deleted files to learn the truth. Parents should monitor their kids’ texts in this situation.
- Suicidal thoughts. Some parents could save their children from committing suicide by simply reading their messages and looking through their social media posts and Google searches. You can spy on a kid’s phone if such a situation arises.
- Help to cope with bullying. An increasing number of classmates or strangers bully teenagers on the Internet. Bullying can cause serious emotional and mental problems and make your child depressive and anxious.
- Prevention from being a victim. It is horrible to admit, but nowadays, criminals and sex offenders can use the Internet to get acquainted with teenagers online. Children are too naive to distinguish fraud or bad intentions of their new “friend.” That is why monitoring the kid’s Internet activity and his/her new acquaintances is crucial to prevent troubles.
There are certainly pros and cons to applying different tracking apps, but we should remember that the safety of our closest ones is our primary responsibility. Use some apps reasonably, and don’t forget to tell your children about numerous Internet dangers.