Should Parents Spy on Mobile Activities of Their Kids and Teens?

Remember how when we were kids, the shows being broadcasted on the television and the movies that were made used to be family friendly. Entire families could sit together and watch the same thing without flinching. But now, producers and directors are in an effort to take their show to the next level had taken the theme based on “sexuality” to a whole new level. Ever since the government has liberated gay rights, almost every single TV show has introduced characters that support the LGBT Community. While such exposure may be deemed appropriate with certain TV shows the same cannot be said for shows that feature Snow White, Robin Hood and Dorothy as the Title characters.

Beside, the real problem doesn’t even begin here. Children, apart from the television and the movies are also exposed to the internet, which for kids that age happen to be a hub for all things that are wrong with this world. With unlimited access to Facebook, twitter, etc on the internet was okay once, as long as the access was limited to a family computer that was placed in the living room of the house where parents could easily watch over the shoulder of the child to see what they were up to unfortunately, today kids have these notorious hand –held devices called smartphones and tablets that allows them to access everything in the world via the internet.

These devices provide children the privacy that living room computer lacked. Such form for privacy can make even the most responsible of teens veer off their path and under pressure from their peers, they tend to do things they never would have done in a million years. This exposure to unlimited access to internet can put them in unadulterated range of;

• Pornographic sites
• Grooming by strangers
• Sexting with their peers
• Being cyber-bullied or become a cyber-bully
• Become target of Cyber stalking

All of these have a very negative impact on our society and most importantly on our kids and have the capability of changing the world as we know it. This is when parents have no other choice than to keep tabs on kids 24/7 but is it the right way to tackle digital issues?

Should Parents Spy on their Children?

“Spying” is a word that has earned itself quite a notorious reputation over the years. It is not only so because of the invasion of privacy part of the entire thing but because how the data collected could be manipulated which has the potential to destroy lives.

Therefore putting a word like that in the same sentence as “parents” and their responsibility of “parenting” does not seem like the right thing to do. Besides, when we talk about the relationship parents have with their children, it goes without saying that they are responsible for their children, at least until they turn 18 by law. Such responsibility asks of parents to monitor their little ones, not spy on them. Therefore, when parents look out for their children, they “monitor” them to ensure their safety, not spy on them.

Role of Spy Apps in Parental Monitoring

We have already discussed how parents should monitor their children and help them make better choices in life and not spy on them. For this purpose, more often than not parents turn to spy applications to keep an eye on their children and teens. Now, buying, downloading and installing a spy application is the easy part, the part that really matters is when you actually have to look over the data being sent by the spy applications. What most parents tend to do is they will look over the data being sent over by the spy applications for  a week or two and then when they do not find anything incriminating they let up of the close watch. This is why the child begins to sprout wings and take a step into the trenches where they shouldn’t go.

Thus, it is very important that parents monitor their children diligently and do not “spy” on them per say. They should also look into the data being sent over by the spy application regularly and nip any problem that might start to take root in the bud.

Author Bio:

Angelica Dowson, a blogger by profession, an author significantly contributes towards android spy software, best for children. If you want to know more about her you can follow her on twitter @angelicadowson2