5 Insane Devices for Monitoring Your Kids

[Renegade]

I saw this, and immediately thought of 40hz.

5 Insane Devices for Monitoring Your Kids

We're in the midst of a tech revolution that's changing childhood for the worse. It's the constant digital surveillance of our kids. Here are five devices that are turning moms and dads into the NSA.

(1) Today there are literally hundreds of baby monitors on the market that stream live video, and many are infrared so you can peer in the dark as your baby snoozes under his Mozart mobile. Some models pivot and tilt, which seems like the sort of tool that might appeal to Seal Team 6. But parents?

(2) Then there are all the gadgets you can attach to your baby, like the Owlet monitor. Do you know your blood oxygen level? Why are we treating healthy babies like they need neonatal intensive care?

(3) Making parents afraid for their kids is a goldmine for companies, which explains the coming arrival of Smart Diapers that help parents analyze the chemical content of their babies' output. Because how dare you toss such a vital diagnostic specimen just into the Diaper Genie?

(4) Once the kids venture out, there's a tsunami of tracking devices that allow parents to strap the equivalent of an FBI ankle bracelet onto their offspring. One of these is V. ALRT, which can detect if your kid falls down. Can you imagine how anxiety inducing—and yet completely useless—this will be? “Warning your child has fallen. Commence feeling bad."

(5) The new Apple Watch is a revolutionary device, but I worry it could turn into the Swiss Army Knife of tracking tools—video feeds, GPS locators, biometric sensors.

These gadgets promise they’ll give parents peace of mind, but they do the exact opposite. They create constant fear—fear so great that you believe you must buy these things or your child is in grave danger. Once you’ve become convinced that your happy, healthy baby in her crib needs blood oxygen monitoring—or that you need to track your teen's heart rate and GPS on a date, which is too disgusting to think about, you'll be a total wreck. Meantime, your kids feel all the joy of a prisoner under house arrest.

Saying, “these devices provide peace of mind,” is like saying, “this box of mosquitoes will provide a good night’s sleep." Do not open the box.

40hz, care to chime in?

[4wd]

(5) The new Apple Watch is a revolutionary device, but I worry it could turn into the Swiss Army Knife of tracking tools—video feeds, GPS locators, biometric sensors.

-Renegade (April 14, 2015, 09:02 AM)

I really don't think that kids have to be worried about being tracked while wearing one of these, no doubt they'd be mugged and have it stolen before they reach the end of the block.

[MilesAhead]

(5) The new Apple Watch is a revolutionary device, but I worry it could turn into the Swiss Army Knife of tracking tools—video feeds, GPS locators, biometric sensors.

-Renegade (April 14, 2015, 09:02 AM)

I really don't think that kids have to be worried about being tracked while wearing one of these, no doubt they'd be mugged and have it stolen before they reach the end of the block.

-4wd (April 14, 2015, 05:08 PM)

Besides, if it's computer driven the parents will have to consult the kids how to enable and disable the various tracking tools. 

[Edvard]

When my son was very young, I used a baby monitor; one of those old-school radio types.  I worked night shift, so I would rush home, snatch a kiss from my wife as she headed off to work, slam some breakfast, vitamins, and a full cup of coffee before my son woke up.  Having the receiver next to my bed was VITAL to being able to wake and get involved in his day.

The above-mentioned gadgets?  Disgusting.  If one could be proven to prevent SIDS, then I could get onboard with that, but otherwise, no.  We are slowly turning our world into a prison; one we purchase for ourselves, brick by shiny techno brick, and insist the surveillance cameras catch our 'good side'.  The powers that be couldn't ask for better surveillance tools than the ones we insist we can't live without.

*sigh*

Pardon me, I'm going to make myself feel better by unplugging something.

[TaoPhoenix]

And not too far from all this, is :

http://www.abc15.com...osting-baby-pictures

I just see the massive lawsuit coming, clashing our Think of the Children (but not babies! Babies are toys for mothers to post on Facebook, but Children are endangered species which justify collecting five years worth of ISP data!!)

Er... yikes. Just yikes.

[Innuendo]

Now a suspicious person with a conspiracy-oriented outlook might wonder how many of these products are sending copies of all that data (and more) back to the manufacturers who can correlate all that juicy data to real people located at real home addresses due to warranty registrations and online ordering.

[MilesAhead]

Now a suspicious person with a conspiracy-oriented outlook might wonder how many of these products are sending copies of all that data (and more) back to the manufacturers who can correlate all that juicy data to real people located at real home addresses due to warranty registrations and online ordering.

-Innuendo (April 18, 2015, 11:29 AM)

Even in the 1950s I knew the TV watched me as much a I watched it.  Every time I got a perfect picture on the rabbit ears as soon as I set down it went haywire.  Only when I got cable could I watch TV without jumping up every few seconds.

Unfortunately I think many would check off the Privacy Policy Agreement that says the guvmint can access all this data if a beer would be sent into the Living Room every time you uttered the phrase "while you are up!" in a clearly audible fashion.  There's freedom and then there is convenience.