In the news: The cell phone as ‘wireless leash’? Sign me up!

Three years ago, when my boys were ages 1 and 3, I made fun of my friend for buying her 11-year-old daughter a cell phone. “You’re kidding, right?” I asked, peering down my nose.

“It’s more for me than for her,” she claimed. “Believe me.”

Call me a cell phone snob, but I never envisioned myself shelling out a monthly fee so my kids could call me for a ride or converse with one friend while trolling the mall with another.

Then I read this article and learned that many cell phones have global positioning systems. They no longer just let us talk to our kids. For a fee, they let us track their exact location.

Since April, Sprint, Walt Disney Co. and Verizon Wireless have all launched cell phone tracking services. All three services let users locate their child’s cell phone via the parent’s phone or the Web.

With Sprint’s “Family Locator,” parents can also set up alerts, which automatically notify parents of their child’s whereabouts on scheduled days and times. For example, every afternoon at 3 pm, you could get a message letting you know that your daughter has arrived at home. Sprint charges $9.99 a month to put the service on up to four Sprint Nextel phones.

Disney Mobile, which launched this month, also offers “Family Monitor,” which lets parents set limits on family members’ wireless spending. Disney Mobile’s family plans range in cost from $59.99 to $249.99 per month, according to its Web site, and include five or more uses of its “Family Locator” service.

Verizon’s plan, “Chaperone,” offers two levels of service. Keeping track of your child through his cell phone costs $9.99 a month. For another $10 monthly, “Chaperone with Child Zone” lets parents create up to 10 specific “zones” (e.g., school, Billy’s house, the ball field). If the phone, and hence the child, should wander out of the zone, the device text messages the parent.

So my cell phone snobbery has been quelled by my burning desire to track my kids' every move. I can even see myself getting addicted, lecturing my son on his first day of college not to forget to keep his phone with him.

Now, if they could just figure out a way to prevent kids from stashing their phones at a friend's and going "off radar." I wonder how old Ben will be when he first turns his cell phone off just to lose me. If he's older than age 13, I'll count myself as lucky. But he'll still be in big trouble!

What do you think of these new family locator products? Will they help keep kids safe, or will they give a false sense of security? Do they help family's stay close, or do they infringe on kids' privacy?

Kris is a thirtysomething writer and stay-at-home mom who lives north of Boston with her family.

Comments

[Shawn]

My daughter is 11 and has tried the "I need a cell phone" spiel a couple of times. She can't keep up with her glasses, let alone, a cell phone. And neither can I. I can't find my cell phone most of the time, so GPS wouldn't work. I have to equip them (5 children) with tactics that are separate from technology. Spying on your kids? I wouldn't call it spying,but...kids make bad choices and even with GPS, we can't teach them anything about responsibility, trust, real friendships that isn't sometimes better learned through good ol' trial and error. Does an alarm go off when we walk into a bar after work instead of taking our butts home? or what about when you should be in bed at 10 p.m. but stay up late to watch a movie? We don't get a 'Time to go to Bed' alarm. And where are we exactly that we don't know where are kids are or who they are with? And God forbid, they grow up and can't afford a cell phone bill, will they know to take 50 cents, a buck in change or some pepper spray if we don't prepare them for the slight chance that their gadgets won't be available?

[sabtrina]

I don't like the idea of children with cell phones really. They do have those ones where the parents program in the numbers that the child can call, those are cool. I am not sure how I feel about GPS on my kids, I think it's good to know where your child is, but it's also good for them to know you trust them to be there when they say they are. It teaches accountability, and honesty. If a child knows he can't lie just because his parents are spying, what does that teach him? Not how to be honest, but that you don't trust him to do what he says he'll do. I just don't know....

[Robin P]

I have read about this before and I like the idea. It's my job to infringe on Lillianna's privacy.... I'm trying to keep her safe.

When I was 17 and driving,I used to leave my mom extensive notes when I would be gone for a while.

"Mom,
I am going to the mall with Elissa. It is now 3:00pm. After the mall we will be stopping at OSCO to drop off film and then I will come straight home. I should be home by 6:00pm."

My mom never asked me to do this I just felt like if anything ever happened to me,she'd know where I had been. It never failed that when I walked in the door,she'd casually ask,"Where were you?" I'd gasped,"Didn't you read my note??????" She'd sigh and say,"Ya,I saw something.....what did it say?"

She was never worried about me because I was a "good kid" but I tried to let her know where I was and she didn't bother to read my notes.....lol.

Times have changed and parents worry more because there is so much more to worry about.

I just asked Lillianna(she's 8 1/2) how she'd feel about having this type of cell phone she said she'd be happy that I knew where she was.It wouldn't bother her at all. Smart girl!!

[sardogwill]

When my son was your kids' ages, I was 100% in the cell phones are not for kids camp. I mean, come on. What in the world does he need to be chattering on about so expensively? Now he's 9 and I'm trying to decide is this the year we'll bite the bullet and plunk down for his own phone? Their lives are so crazy with extracurricular activities and work schedules and play dates and emergencies that, before you know it, you find yourself wishing they had phones, just so you can keep track of the chaos. And the GPS is just pure bonus.