Mother releases a app to force children to call back parents and lock their phones on their demand

[Trik'Stari]

When I was in highschool I was the only kid without a phone at the party. and the only one who didn't have to call in every other hour to "check in" and the only one without a curfew other than "be in the neighborhood after 1am" and you know what? I'm the only one that didn't get arrested, didn't get a girl pregnant, and didn't do cocaine. My parents gave me a bit of trust and said "don"t fuck up" and I didn't, as opposed to ramming a leash up my ass. We had some wild ass parties, but I only ever drank/smoked weed. Then at the end of the night, got on my golfcart, and had a nice relaxing ride home at 20mph, had a bowl of cereal, and passed out.

 

The solution to this app? Leave your phone at home.

[Guest Generallee]

Oh my god, they learned to create apps

 

We are doomed, until we become parents and realize how useful these kind of apps are

[TAK]

.

[Dude]

It's a dumb idea for an app. Easy to bypass and downright dangerous. What if a non-parent gets a hold of it? What do they need in order to start some serious up-fuckery? What if the child uninstalls it or performs a system restore? What if the child enables Blocking Mode (Don't know if that's just a Galaxy Note 3 thing or not).

[Sauron]

Maybe it can, but generally... Having been a thirteen year old and both my son's having been thirteen years old I have first hand experience, and it seems not to matter how politely you tell/ask them to clue you in, as soon as they are out of earshot all thought of you goes out of there heads.  They didn't mean anything bad by it that is just the way a child's mind works.

 

That doesn't mean they are going to ignore a call from you though, which was the point of this app.

[Trik'Stari]

That doesn't mean they are going to ignore a call from you though, which was the point of this app.

and if they just leave the phone at home in either case? If I didn't want my parents calling me when I was young, I did this REMARKABLE thing that only I apparently knew of,

 

TURNED

THE

PHONE

OFF

 

And claimed my battery died.

[flibberdipper]

Wow, this is pathetic.

[Mooshi]

I'm not a kid, but if I still was and was given a phone like this with that app, I seriously wouldn't trust my parents and start doing things just out of spite. So, GG parenting, I guess. Didn't have a phone till I got out of highschool and I was the one who paid for it. I've seen kids who haven't even hit puberty be trusted with expensive smart phones and parents wonder why their kids turn out to be spoiled little shits. An app doesn't fix bad parenting.

[sqwidee]

If you can't trust the kid with the phone, don't let the kid have the phone. Simple.

[ZeroBreaker]

...if your child isn't old enough to understand why he should really call his parents back in most circumstances, then he should not have any type of phone at all.

[Sauron]

and if they just leave the phone at home in either case? If I didn't want my parents calling me when I was young, I did this REMARKABLE thing that only I apparently knew of,

 

TURNED

THE

PHONE

OFF

 

And claimed my battery died.

 

And that would make this app useless anyway ^^

[Builder]

iOS: the OS of the people children.

[Trik'Stari]

And that would make this app useless anyway ^^

That's my point ultimately. This app is not only wrong, but useless.

[patrickjp93]

Software is only meant to solve scientific problems, not emotional ones (audio/video over IP being the exception)

[harrynowl]

Software is only meant to solve scientific problems, not emotional ones (audio/video over IP being the exception)

True; but it's amazing what we can achieve with technology and I think new ways of using it to achieve things should be actively encouraged.

 

On the other hand I don't like this kind of thing as it discourages a healthy relationship between a parent and child.

[daemonowner]

Some pissed-off kid genius will work around this, post it online, and all the affected kids will download it.

[Suika]

Exactly, if those measures are needed to make your child want to speak to you, you're probably a cunt.

If a parent genuinely needs this, the child is likely a bigger cunt.

Both my parents agree they'd never need this app, but there are indeed asshole children the deserve this sort of parental lock on their phones.

I don't know very many kids who actually own and pay for their phones, so I don't see why it matters what their parents do with them.

[mr moose]

Some parents need this because just like this forum, some kids think they know better and just can't be told. 

 

 

 

I'll admit it all starts with parenting, but in this day and age even perfect parenting only shapes a part a teenagers behaviors/mentality. 

[rhyseyness]

It can work, trust me. And anyway I didn't even have a phone until I was 13, let alone a smartphone. Part of being a parent is understanding wether your son is ready to use a tool responsibly, and if he isn't, don't buy it for him. If you buy it, don't complain that he abuses it; you should have known. A nokia 3310 is more than enough to call home for an emergency, no need to give them a 500$ phone.

Couldn't agree more.

I also didn't get my first phone until I was 11, and it was only because I started secondary school and so my parents wanted me to be able to contact me in an emergency. (Like if I missed the bus home or something, they could check I wasn't dead in a ditch).

I was given a very in depth talk from my parents about why I was getting the phone and what it was for.

That made sure I was responsible with it.

Again though, it wasn't a smartphone. It was a £30 Nokia that could text, call and play snake

Phones shouldn't be something a kid just gets. It's something they need to understand before they are given.

 

Also, I understand that in this day and age, a phone plays a very different role in society.

My 8 year old cousin loves mobile games.

He has his mums old smartphone with no sim card in it, and no internet access, so that he can play mobile games.

He's limited on how long he's allowed to do this for in a day.

He also reads books on a kindle (again, his mums), and it's difficult to argue that that's any different.

A phone isn't just a phone any more, and I think there's a lot to be said for that.

It's almost the same as having a gameboy when we were kids.

That's just what portable gaming has evolved into.

 

I think if kids start going to school with expensive smartphones it would cause all sorts of problems.

Kids without the smartphones could get jealous.

Kids with "worse" phones would likely be bullied.

Not to mention the problems that would arise with kids getting their phones stolen.

 

I don't think kids should get a £300+ smartphone for their own.

I do however think they should be exposed to the technology in a controlled way.

I'm in no position to argue about what "a controlled way" is, as I'm not a parent.

 

Just my 2 pence

[SkilledRebuilds]

Oh My phones blocked...

Grabs mates phone....

[atrash]

I still use the old snail mail and pay phone until I was 18 when trying to contact my parents from boarding school. And I only contacted them like once or twice a month. Parents these days are just too constrictive of their kids. That's why most of them ended up being too much of a 'meow' and also rebellious.

[soup]

That doesn't mean they are going to ignore a call from you though,

 

True.

<pipe n slippers mode>

I tend to forget it is a completely different world nowadays  I certainly didn't have a mobile when I was young, and the laddies didn't have phones until they were much older (eldest bought his own, youngest we bought it for him but it is mainly a safety device( he has learning difficulties so he has a button on the phone that texts a rake of phones at once "soup minimus needs help") he VERY rarely actually calls anyone.

<mode off>

[soup]

He has his mums old smartphone with no sim card in it, and no internet access, so that he can play mobile games.

 

Wasn't this the niche for :- Gameboy, DS etc. ?

 

Mind you I suppose if you have an old phone 'lying about'...

[LinusTech]

I went to high school with a lot of kids who need this on their phone. I think it's a great idea.

I think a lot of people in this thread are getting the wrong idea. This isn't a stealthy "oooh I'm gonna spy on you" tool. This is something parents and teen sit down and install together (perhaps part of the deal where they get a phone in the first place) and agree about how it's going to be used.

 

If the rule is "no phones at the table", I ain't gonna ask you 6x and have a long-ass conversation about it. Put it the ^^^^ away or it'll be locked for the night.

 

As for not answering parents' phone calls. In 13 years I'm going to have a 13 year old daughter. If she's out past curfew and not picking up my calls, she could be in serious danger. Not being able to use her phone except to call me is a-okay.

 

Like any safety mechanism there are ways this kind of tool can be abused by buttheads, but if it's all part of an over-the-table agreement, I don't see the issue.

[sonarctica]

I went to high school with a lot of kids who need this on their phone. I think it's a great idea.

I think a lot of people in this thread are getting the wrong idea. This isn't a stealthy "oooh I'm gonna spy on you" tool. This is something parents and teen sit down and install together (perhaps part of the deal where they get a phone in the first place) and agree about how it's going to be used.

 

If the rule is "no phones at the table", I ain't gonna ask you 6x and have a long-ass conversation about it. Put it the ^^^^ away or it'll be locked for the night.

 

As for not answering parents' phone calls. In 13 years I'm going to have a 13 year old daughter. If she's out past curfew and not picking up my calls, she could be in serious danger. Not being able to use her phone except to call me is a-okay.

 

Like any safety mechanism there are ways this kind of tool can be abused by buttheads, but if it's all part of an over-the-table agreement, I don't see the issue.

What did you mean by kids in high school that needed this on their phone? Were they using their phone during classes or was there another reason?

 

At least here in Finland they are quite strict about using phones during classes in schools, teachers usually throw you out if you are seen with one which has eradicated the problem that kids are just using their phones and not learning quite a lot. Depends a lot on the teacher too, I remember when I still went to school during exams, our Spanish teacher played Angry Birds on his phone and really didn't check on students...

 

This kinda comes back to the system... Finland is known for having the best education in the world without being extremely strict.