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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1496181
“You check your kids’ phones? Like read her texts???” She typed to me incredulously in a parenting Facebook group. “But you’re invading her privacy,” she continued. I replied directly, “She’s ELEVEN and doesn’t understand netiquette and the consequences of texting something inappropriate. On devices, there is no privacy in our house.” And the debate ensued. A flurry of comments, replies, and shaming sparked the debate to the digital age question, is it OK to check your child’s phone? My husband and I thought we were doing the right thing, but I decided to check with the experts. Glen Pounder, Vice President of Impact, Child Rescue Coalition says, “Perhaps the real question should be why not check your kid’s phone? Think about it this way – would you be happy for your child to meet a 43-year-old strange man in a park while you stood only 10 or 15 yards away? Why should it be any different when your child is in their bedroom meeting a potential child predator online?” When we were children – sure, we had privacy. We wrote notes to our friends that our parents couldn’t see, or we talked on the phone, if we were lucky in our own bedroom on our own phone line (an old-school luxury)! But our parents knew who we were communicating with and we didn’t have a computer in the palms of our hands. Nowadays children are getting access to devices at a younger age; and privacy, even for children, is seen by many as a right not a privilege. It’s the norm to download social media apps, Google anything whenever and wherever, watch videos on several platforms on any subject, and send nudes via Snapchat. With this new technology comes the ability for predators to find our kids easily, and an enormous responsibility for parents. Do we really think children are in a position to protect themselves at such an age?