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Frustrated Mom Creates ‘Ignore No More’ App To Get Teen Kids To Return Calls
Renegade:
...just how much I hate phones and won't use one unless I have to.
-app103 (August 18, 2014, 02:05 AM)
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I can relate to that! :)
Just because your kids and you are so well connected through technology, doesn't mean you can't give them the space and trust they need. Yeah, sure they will do dumb stuff. You can't stop that. Better that they do the dumb stuff while they still have you around to help them learn not to do it again, than to have you hovering over them every moment of every day, removing every opportunity for them to learn how to be independent, mature human beings, because you are afraid they will do all the stupid things you did. You learned your lesson, and they will too...in time...but only if they are allowed to make mistakes and learn from them.
-app103 (August 18, 2014, 02:05 AM)
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But sometimes you really do NEED to contact someone. Kids included.
Like any tool, this one can certainly be abused. No doubt about that.
Say for example your 16 year old is going to be driving home, and you hear weather reports about black ice. 16 year olds aren't really the most experienced drivers. Being able to advise on an alternate route would probably be a good thing.
But, for every good example, there is a bad example of how it can be abused.
I don't think that this tool will make bad parents much worse. There are far more insidious ways that parents can destroy their children.
Renegade:
it's important to teach American children to accept electronic surveillance and coercion as early as possible. this misguided app will certainly help do that. :-(
-Gwen7 (August 18, 2014, 08:46 AM)
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To be (somewhat) contrarian...
"My phone. I bought it. I paid for it. I am responsible for it. My phone. You get the privilege of using it at my discretion. When you turn 18 and buy your own phone, then you get to set the rules for your phone and assume all responsibility and all privileges. I set the rules for my phone. Feel free to give it back to me at any time."
It might be a good thing to illustrate to children that what they are being subjected to isn't a great and wonderful thing. That level of control isn't healthy for adults, and they can learn that lesson as children. They can then go on with that understanding that they were once children, but they are no longer, and nobody has any right to control them or their communications any longer.
It is perfectly possible to use this tool to illustrate that surveillance and coercion are not good things. I'd argue that this tool provides an excellent opportunity for that.
40hz:
it's important to teach American children to accept electronic surveillance and coercion as early as possible. this misguided app will certainly help do that. :-(
-Gwen7 (August 18, 2014, 08:46 AM)
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To be (somewhat) contrarian...
"My phone. I bought it. I paid for it. I am responsible for it. My phone. You get the privilege of using it at my discretion. When you turn 18 and buy your own phone, then you get to set the rules for your phone and assume all responsibility and all privileges. I set the rules for my phone. Feel free to give it back to me at any time."
-Renegade (August 18, 2014, 09:16 AM)
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That's an oddly harsh and authoritarian argument (assuming you call a simple F.U. assertion an argument) coming from somebody who is so anti-authoritarian about just about everything else...
I sense a certain philosophical disconnect in progress. :huh:
It is perfectly possible to use this tool to illustrate that surveillance and coercion are not good things. I'd argue that this tool provides an excellent opportunity for that.
-Renegade (August 18, 2014, 09:16 AM)
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Ah! The old trick of deliberately creating a horrible example of "what can happen" to teach a lesson about "the horrible thing that could happen - to you!" One could argue the same thing can be said for public flogging and capital punishment. Those have their advocates too. But again, that's hardly an argument. More what you'd call an assertion.
Just sayin' ;)
40hz:
I'm (still) in the odd position of agreeing with your recommendations, but being a bit overwhelmed by your attitude.
-tomos (August 18, 2014, 07:47 AM)
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If it comes across as "attitude," believe me it isn’t.
It's just object to the "levelling" I hear whenever the topic of the behavior of children comes up.
No...not everybody did something life threatening when a kid.
No...not every kid got into serious trouble over something.
No...not every kid is easily led.
No...not every teen routinely indulged in sex, drugs, and alcohol while in high school.
No...it's definitely not true that most of us didn't pay any attention while in school.
No...not every teen speeds, cuts classes, steals, regularly lies to their parents, or does bad things.
So when somebody comes to me and says "Well I remember how out of control I was at that age. We all were." I have to call BS on that and say: "Speak for yourself." Because most of us weren't. And since I deal with enough kids to appreciate how smart and aware of what's going on most of them are, it's not just simple belief on my part. They're just as sick and tired of the jerks they have to deal with as the rest of us are.
:tellme:
wraith808:
There are also different technologies and such that are available that weren't when we were kids. Just because we didn't necessarily *need* it, is that a reason not to use it? The problem is in the application, not in the technology itself. And I just have a problem with the 'leveling' of technology when it's a people problem. It's a tool, and under the correct circumstance, its application can be warranted.
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