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Just to be clear, I don't want this as a 24/7 thing, but rather on those odd occasions where a higher level of alertness is required, i.e. when my older son fin

Just to be clear, I don't want this as a 24/7 thing, but rather on those odd occasions where a higher level of alertness is required, i.e. when my older son finishes a band gig at midnight in the seedier part of town. I think I have a pretty good trust relationship with my kids, but there have been times where they have been half an hour late home from school or a gig etc. and the worry button gets hit. In all occurrences, it has been simple things like missing a bus, or staying back to get help with teachers etc., but those are the sorts of things that I'd like to be able to check on quickly before resorting to calling/texting. The ability to notice something is amiss, then do a quick spot check to see "Oh, its OK, he is still on school grounds" or "He's on the number 10 bus homeward bound" is reassuring. EDIT: I just realised that I forgot to answer your actual question re: Are my kids OK with it (the monitoring). Neither of them have pushed back much on this. In fact, last year I developed a small iPhone app purely for the family to use to achieve the sort of tracking this Google system does. My sons were actually quite helpful in helping me design and test it out. End of the day I abandoned the app because I just didn't have enough time to maintain it, and there were other third party apps coming out that did the same thing. As mentioned above, we have a pretty good trust relationship with our kids. Its not as if we track their every movement, and we are quite flexible with them spending a lot of time out with their friends and other sporting/social activities. It is just on those outlying times where we feel the situation is not completely 100% rosy that we like the ability to do a quick 'ping' check.

BillinghamJ 10y ago
If you're using iOS, have you seen Find my Friends? My group of friends and family all have each other set up on that app. It definitely does seem potentially kinda creepy or weird initially, but if you do truly trust each other, it's actually really useful. e.g. You can passively see where someone is before nagging them to ask if they're going to get here soon, etc.
- jpkeisala 10y ago
  My daughter has iPhone 5S with Find my Friends activated. I find it rather buggy. It does not "stream" location so for example if she is on bus and I try to check she jumps off on the right stop it goes something like this: Now I can see she is 500M from her bus stop, Updating.... cannot locate.... updating... cannot locate... after few minutes... Doorbell rings, oh she is home now and app also show her location is home. Not exactly pleasant experience as a parent.
  - BillinghamJ 10y ago
    Right, but that is simply the reality of not destroying the person's battery life. You can't continuously stream an accurate location to the web without using a lot of power - it has to be pull rather than push. This is also a bit better around privacy and data protection. You can also configure the phone to send out its location just before its battery dies.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
rndstr 10y ago
While I don't necessarily agree with the monitoring of kids, there is also the Google+ Location sharing (which I use with my SO).
restuos 10y ago
Honestly, I don't think it really matters if your kids are OK with it or not. They are still kids and you are responsible for them. If they are 18 and paying for their own service, then fine, that's another story. But until then, I don't think it even matters. Seriously, I feel people without children just don't understand how parent's feel.
- POTUS 10y ago
  I think we as parents sometimes should take a step back from our feelings and I think this is a prime example. Just because you feel a certain way (and pay for their phone) doesn't make it alright to push such an invading service onto your children. You feeling uneasy when your teenage child is out and about is your problem, not theirs, so you deal with it.
- Shanea93 10y ago
  I found it interesting to swap some of the words around to draw a corollary against governments spying on their own citizens: Honestly, I don't think it really matters if your citizens are OK with it or not. They are still citizens and you are responsible for them. If they are politicians and have a say in the service, then fine, that's another story. But until then, I don't think it even matters. Seriously, I feel people just don't understand how the government feels.
  - che_shirecat 10y ago
    I was okay with this analogy until the politicians vs. citizens part. Maybe you should reconsider how bonkers your children : 18-yr old independent children :: citizens : politicians sounds
    - Shanea93 10y ago
      It's a pretty good analogy for the United Kingdom, at least, with the recently passed Snoopers Charter which gives unlimited access to a large number of government agency to the browsing information for all citizens, with the exception of politicians.
eternalban 10y ago
> Just to be clear, I don't want this as a 24/7 thing, but rather on those odd occasions where a higher level of alertness is required, i.e. when my older son finishes a band gig at midnight in the seedier part of town. The disconnect here for me is that your hypothetical is hardly a new phenomena unique to our time. What would you have done in the 50s? 80s? 90s? Let's put things in perspective here. The very fact that you can have real time updates on the metrics off the /device/ that is expected to be carried with your son means you have a direct channel of communication to your son's device. Worried? Give him a call. Problem solved.
- cyberferret 10y ago
  I would really like to think that this technology we surround ourselves today would make things much easier to stay in touch, no? When I was a kid playing in bands etc. in the 80's, I had to actually put myself in MORE danger sometimes by walking down a street to a public phone to call my parent or arrange a lift after gigs. I am glad my son doesn't have to do that. "Giving him a call" is all fine, except if they are mid set or are tearing down while another band plays - stages can be loud places, and not the best things for talking on a phone, or even texting when they are busy moving gear. A quick check to see "Oh, he is still at the venue" or "He appears to be at the band's storage lockup right now" is enough for me to know that it is pretty much ops normal.
  - eternalban 10y ago
    There is no question technology can improve things. The problem is not the tech, it's society and actors in society. Google and alike are willynilly becoming institutions and "pushback" is not against tech in the least (cell phones are tech, right?).
- notheguyouthink 10y ago
  > Worried? Give him a call. Problem solved. Why? I always see such massive push back to technology in what would theoretically be a tech-adopting crowd. Why would i, as a band playing Son, want to have to stop practicing or playing a set to call my family back in a timely manner? Couldn't some technology, perhaps a device in my pocket, allow my parents to know where i am, handle the burden? Why is my mother knowing where i am such an invasion of privacy? Mind you, i'm 30 now, but i don't care if my wife knows where i am 24/7. Hell, i want her to. I'd also like to know where she is. We've got nothing to hide from eachother, so why should the 1950s method of calling eachother periodically to ping our locations be used? Why is 1950s your metric for success here? I want technology to make my life less of a hassle. By all means, make it secure, i'm not arguing anything different. But i'd like to move beyond 1950 please.
andegre 10y ago
Whatever happened to Google Latitude? I know I used it a few years ago; it just shows the current position of a persons phone at all times...
- joshboles 10y ago
  Google retired it in July of 2013 and made it a part of Google+.

BillinghamJ 10y ago

If you're using iOS, have you seen Find my Friends? My group of friends and family all have each other set up on that app. It definitely does seem potentially kinda creepy or weird initially, but if you do truly trust each other, it's actually really useful. e.g. You can passively see where someone is before nagging them to ask if they're going to get here soon, etc.

jpkeisala 10y ago
My daughter has iPhone 5S with Find my Friends activated. I find it rather buggy. It does not "stream" location so for example if she is on bus and I try to check she jumps off on the right stop it goes something like this: Now I can see she is 500M from her bus stop, Updating.... cannot locate.... updating... cannot locate... after few minutes... Doorbell rings, oh she is home now and app also show her location is home. Not exactly pleasant experience as a parent.
- BillinghamJ 10y ago
  Right, but that is simply the reality of not destroying the person's battery life. You can't continuously stream an accurate location to the web without using a lot of power - it has to be pull rather than push. This is also a bit better around privacy and data protection. You can also configure the phone to send out its location just before its battery dies.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

rndstr 10y ago

While I don't necessarily agree with the monitoring of kids, there is also the Google+ Location sharing (which I use with my SO).

restuos 10y ago

Honestly, I don't think it really matters if your kids are OK with it or not. They are still kids and you are responsible for them. If they are 18 and paying for their own service, then fine, that's another story. But until then, I don't think it even matters. Seriously, I feel people without children just don't understand how parent's feel.

POTUS 10y ago
I think we as parents sometimes should take a step back from our feelings and I think this is a prime example. Just because you feel a certain way (and pay for their phone) doesn't make it alright to push such an invading service onto your children. You feeling uneasy when your teenage child is out and about is your problem, not theirs, so you deal with it.
Shanea93 10y ago
I found it interesting to swap some of the words around to draw a corollary against governments spying on their own citizens: Honestly, I don't think it really matters if your citizens are OK with it or not. They are still citizens and you are responsible for them. If they are politicians and have a say in the service, then fine, that's another story. But until then, I don't think it even matters. Seriously, I feel people just don't understand how the government feels.
- che_shirecat 10y ago
  I was okay with this analogy until the politicians vs. citizens part. Maybe you should reconsider how bonkers your children : 18-yr old independent children :: citizens : politicians sounds
  - Shanea93 10y ago
    It's a pretty good analogy for the United Kingdom, at least, with the recently passed Snoopers Charter which gives unlimited access to a large number of government agency to the browsing information for all citizens, with the exception of politicians.

eternalban 10y ago

> Just to be clear, I don't want this as a 24/7 thing, but rather on those odd occasions where a higher level of alertness is required, i.e. when my older son finishes a band gig at midnight in the seedier part of town. The disconnect here for me is that your hypothetical is hardly a new phenomena unique to our time. What would you have done in the 50s? 80s? 90s? Let's put things in perspective here. The very fact that you can have real time updates on the metrics off the /device/ that is expected to be carried with your son means you have a direct channel of communication to your son's device. Worried? Give him a call. Problem solved.

cyberferret 10y ago
I would really like to think that this technology we surround ourselves today would make things much easier to stay in touch, no? When I was a kid playing in bands etc. in the 80's, I had to actually put myself in MORE danger sometimes by walking down a street to a public phone to call my parent or arrange a lift after gigs. I am glad my son doesn't have to do that. "Giving him a call" is all fine, except if they are mid set or are tearing down while another band plays - stages can be loud places, and not the best things for talking on a phone, or even texting when they are busy moving gear. A quick check to see "Oh, he is still at the venue" or "He appears to be at the band's storage lockup right now" is enough for me to know that it is pretty much ops normal.
- eternalban 10y ago
  There is no question technology can improve things. The problem is not the tech, it's society and actors in society. Google and alike are willynilly becoming institutions and "pushback" is not against tech in the least (cell phones are tech, right?).
notheguyouthink 10y ago
> Worried? Give him a call. Problem solved. Why? I always see such massive push back to technology in what would theoretically be a tech-adopting crowd. Why would i, as a band playing Son, want to have to stop practicing or playing a set to call my family back in a timely manner? Couldn't some technology, perhaps a device in my pocket, allow my parents to know where i am, handle the burden? Why is my mother knowing where i am such an invasion of privacy? Mind you, i'm 30 now, but i don't care if my wife knows where i am 24/7. Hell, i want her to. I'd also like to know where she is. We've got nothing to hide from eachother, so why should the 1950s method of calling eachother periodically to ping our locations be used? Why is 1950s your metric for success here? I want technology to make my life less of a hassle. By all means, make it secure, i'm not arguing anything different. But i'd like to move beyond 1950 please.

andegre 10y ago

Whatever happened to Google Latitude? I know I used it a few years ago; it just shows the current position of a persons phone at all times...

joshboles 10y ago
Google retired it in July of 2013 and made it a part of Google+.