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GPS tracks teens 24/7

SIRI AGRELL

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 12:26 PM EDT 27/03/08

Researchers to track teen girls' cellphones for year to seek ties between specific locations and bad behaviour ...Read the full article

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  1. Dan Thomas from Canada writes: More and more we eliminate the opportunity for young people to think for themselves and make their own rational choices. How do they learn to govern their own behaviour or deal with mistakes when every choice is made for them and no room is left for personal growth?
  2. Mark H from Indy, United States writes: "Dan Thomas from Canada writes: More and more we eliminate the opportunity for young people to think for themselves and make their own rational choices. How do they learn to govern their own behaviour or deal with mistakes when every choice is made for them and no room is left for personal growth?"

    The way they're supposed to learn that kind of stuff is from their parents. Young people don't make rational choices, at least not nearly at the rate adults do. By virtue of having zero life experience, kids make bad decisions, and it's your job as a parent to either head those decisions off at the pass or make sure they're a one-time thing. I'd Lojack my kids if I could.
  3. Chris Edwards from Greater Sudbury, Canada writes: Sorry, but this is a chilling experiment wrapped up in a feel-good reason for doing it. Sometimes the ends don't justify the means.

    Nobody could argue with promoting health or good choices, but does anyone else feel uncomfortable with the idea of a satellite tracking your every move and prediciting your behaviour?
  4. Might makes right? from Toronto, Canada writes: Dan, good point about personal growth but I think the idea to consider here is the PREVENTION of (major) mistakes. Like an accidental pregnancy of a young teenager.
  5. M Hawk from Canada writes: As i've recently hit adulthood, I can tell you no amount of someone telling me 'its bad' would have stopped me from doing anything. If kids want to do drugs, have sex, go to parties, they will find a way to do it. If you ban a certain house and neighborhood, well, I can tell you right away they will just find another house and neighborhood.
    I wonder what kind of 'intervention' they're talking about here to prevent those kids from going somewhere... something tells me 99% of the time it aint gonna work.
  6. j wilson from vancouver, Canada writes: Maybe you guys were better teenagers than me, but, about one week into this experiment I'd be hiding my cellphone in church while I took off to the poolhall or to sneak into a tavern.

    My cellphone would never go anyplace bad. I might agree to the experiment now that the full range of my GPS tracker would go from work to the supermarket to the TV room, but as a kid, I'd simply have places to be that it wasnt welcome.

    Expect the outcomes from this study to be more pollyannaish than they ever expected.
  7. Gordon Murray from Canada writes: Just as movie "Disturbia", with ankle perimter restricting tracker, established limits, so some day soon courts coordinate prohibitions from areas, probably with subsidies. An initial step might be phone ringing and duty to explain breach of earlier alert. Sounds like it's not so far from cheap - intermittent text demand for password enter. Now more than ever is FREE-CELL popular: 1) The cellphone game display 2) Via participating school kids in such programs as this (hey! short term free cell phone! look!) and 3) Towards saving costs in the monitoring of court recognizance terms (that GPS featured cell phone is portable area restriction is a cheap alternative to a jail cell, practically a cushy mobile FREE Cell, eh?) On another note, as entire schools gets in on FREE CELL studies, other topics can be studied. There are universal donors and universal recipients in blood transfusions/donation. Perhaps girls going to the washroom together can be studied: "See here how Marcy goes to the washroom (probably 'to compare notes' (not to gossip) with Nancy, while Nancy goes to the washroom to 'compare notes' with just about anything that 'writes'. Then again, maybe she has Type 2 diabetes or the like." "Never mind. You didn't factor in Nancy's STARBUCKS habit. It's the coffee that does it. You can see that she's actually IN a stall the higher proportion. It's not talking/gossiping. Next time do YOUR homework."
  8. Steve Not an Alberta Redneck from Calgary, Canada writes: Gee, an opportunity to make some money. While I was studying, I could have charged my classmates to hold their phones while they slipped out to the local tavern or had a party at the home of someone whose parents were out of town.

    Too bad only Dick Tracy had this technolgy when I was in school.
  9. Craig Cooper from Toronto, writes: Imagine how much money you could make by selling the location of the places where teenage girls like to get busy.

    That's the real purpose behind all this silliness!

    Narf!
  10. Cindy Loo Who from Toronto, Canada writes: Looks like just one more example of a university using tuition and taxpayer dollars to further develop a supposedly purely beneficial technology only to then hand it over (for free) to big business, military, etc for use in ways that a majority of society will object to.

    Let's get real. This will not change adolescent behavior, good or bad, one iota, and any parent who signs their kid up for this Big Brother sh** is one sick fool/tool. I would consider anyone (parent or otherwise) who asked me to participate in a study like this to be my enemy.
  11. Dan Thomas from Canada writes: Mark H. You can't be everywhere all the time, unless you're omnipotent, you can't stop your kids from making mistakes. Yeah they have no life experience, that makes sense. They will never have the life experience to make important decisions if you don't let them make decisions for themselves. Like other posters have said here, they will find a way to do what they want anyway, kids don't just have sex at each others houses, the car you're tracking may not being going anywhere for a reason, perhaps the young driver is not at the wheel. Come on guys get real, you can't tell me a young person becomes an adult by having every minute detail of their lives examined and planned for them.
  12. CD W from Canada writes: Just put a keystroke program into the home computer, it will tell you all. But if you want a spot where the little trollops are causing trouble, it is called the MALL. They do nothing there except trash other girls, try to pick up older men and shoplift. Aside from the truancy, it is win win for them.
  13. Michael B from Canada writes: This feel's a little bit too 1984ish. OK, so this study is harmless and has alot of privacy. But they're paving the way for the type of people who would use this in the wrong way. I feel somewhat safe in Canada from big brother, however Americans be warned - you're already giving up your civil liberties left, right, and center with these patriot acts... the web will only get tighter until you do something about it.
  14. Are We Having This Conversation ? from Toronto, Canada writes: I agree with Mark H from the United States...how about parents deciding to do their job and teaching their kids right from wrong? How about parents "talking" to their children about right or wrong....and not at 13, or 14 when parents feel like they cannot "control" their kids...do it at an early age (from the beginning!!). Parents tend to think their kids "don't understand" the dangers or they don't "understand" the lesson but that is not true. Kids are far more perceptive than we give them credit for. If kids are going to do something horrible they will do it no matter what!! I had my parents drop me off at bars (sometimes after church!!), house parties when parents weren't home, concerts with less than reputable individuals but I was honest with my parents from day 1. I told them there would be drugs, under age drinking and everything else in between. But I knew that when I wanted to go home or if I didn't like the environment in which I was in, my parents were just a phone call away. (no cell phones, I used the home phone). Or, my parents would give me heaps of quarters and told me to use a payphone and they would come and get me no matter the time! And it's true...they did, I feel sorry for my poor parents because I would ring them at odd hours....but they liked that I was honest with them....better to be honest than lie to my parents and then having them learn about it from someone else! Kids nowadays need to grow up!
  15. The Religious Left from Canada writes:
    Opps, I accidentally dropped my cellphone under the wheel of the bus. Mom, can you buy me another one?
  16. Mark H from Indy, United States writes: "Dan Thomas from Canada writes: Mark H. You can't be everywhere all the time, unless you're omnipotent, you can't stop your kids from making mistakes. Yeah they have no life experience, that makes sense. They will never have the life experience to make important decisions if you don't let them make decisions for themselves. Like other posters have said here, they will find a way to do what they want anyway, kids don't just have sex at each others houses, the car you're tracking may not being going anywhere for a reason, perhaps the young driver is not at the wheel. "

    Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps - it's about risk management. There's no absolute. That defeatist attitude that we just shouldn't try to discipline or watch out kids is the reason some kids run wild, and it fosters a feeling in the child that the parent doesn't care about them. You can go too far the other way and become a totalitarian parent - but expecting to know where your kids are at all times doesn't cross that line. Not even close.
  17. East End Snob from Toronto, Canada writes: I am a couple of years out of my teens and I came from a house that would have been deemed "destructive" to my wellbeing and I should have been a knocked up drug-addict according to the statistics. I (and my friends) had the common sense and the intelligence to NOT do the "bad" things that kids these days do.

    I don't understand the lack of common sense...WHY are kids smoking and doing drugs? I had peer pressure, but never gave in because I didn't see the value in all of the bad stuff. I don't understand why most kids these days NEED to be tracked because no matter how good or bad their parents are they are going to be completely self-indulgent spoiled brats.

    I wasn't the perfect kid but I didn't do stupid stuff either and as far as I know my mother didn't teach me that it was just blatantly obvious.

    What I am really getting at is putting GPS tracking in your kid's cellphone is not going to change their ability to judge a bad situation or have the intelligence to be a good kid.
  18. Sue City from Canada writes: Another excellent reason to never own a cell phone.
  19. Sue City from Canada writes: PS to all you parent bashers, the participants' parents do not know that their child is being tracked for this study. That should worry you more...
  20. one thinker from Canada writes: Do you think that this study will stop with childrens or teenagers. Once it become the norm that teenagers should be monitor then it would be easier to monitor everyone else.
  21. can I vote again from around-Kingston, Canada writes: wow, couple this with tracking devices in cell phones, tracking debit purchases, tracking "reward points", black-boxes in cars and surveillance cameras in cities and it just might work.
  22. sean endacott from Canada writes: Great. I always wanted the possibility of technology to track and predict my movements and paterns. I am going to sleep easier tonight that's for sure. Too bad we didn't have this before 911. We could have tracked the terrorists and know where and how they move. This combined with other techology that can key on certain woods could do wonders for our national security.
  23. Luc X from Canada writes: As a parent, I believe it makes far more sense for me to talk to my children about the potential ramifications of choices they will need to make. Guiding them towards using common sense tools and nurturing their ability to find their own moral center and to trust and be guided by their own inner self seems a lot more sensible then cell phone tracking. My 2 cents.
  24. Richard Hawrelak from Sarnia, Canada writes: One thing I learned about raising two kids. As soon as you figured out one way to track em, two minutes later they figured out a solution. Teens are smart enough to swap cell phones to the designated controller, the one who stays at home and pretends everything is hunky-dorey. How do these clowns get research money for these things when I can't get a buck to study solar energy to drive my SUV?
  25. Paul Warburg from TO, Canada writes: If this makes sence for little girls it should make sence for tracking public officials. The only thing worse than a missing child is a corrupt politition or police officer.
  26. Stefanie Higney from Toronto, Canada writes: Bad behaviour and location: I did most of my smoking and having sex in my own house when my parents were out...sort that one out. :)
  27. Modern Observer from Ottawa, Canada writes: It's interesting that this discussion seems to refer to girls only. Why? For my money - if I would spend any at all - it would be more informative to track boys, not girls. THEN watch a real discussion break out regarding the feasability and very morality of this time waster of a research exercise.
  28. Dana Cruickshank from Canada writes: What is an 8 year old girl doing with a cell phone anyway? Even a 14 year old girl very rarely needs a cell phone. There might be a few cases where they do, but not many.

    You can't really blame the researchers, they are doing their job, researching and innovating, thats what our society needs more of. Any problems with a child always go back to the parents no matter what, and ultimately its up to them, not the teachers or anyone else, to make sure that their child doesn't do irrational things.
  29. David R from Canada writes: mark H writes "By virtue of having zero life experience, kids make bad decisions, and it's your job as a parent to either head those decisions off at the pass or make sure they're a one-time thing. I'd Lojack my kids if I could. "

    So your kids aren't learning because your doing it for them. Growing up isn't something you can do for your kids.. they need to experience for themselves otherwise they'll never really learn it. By "lojacking" your kids your only putting off their decission making till their older and at that point they'll have zero experience because you did it for them....

    Let your kids grow and live with the mistakes, if you give them the right lessons it will pay off. But if you do all the work and all the thinking..... what does that do them.... NOthing.
  30. Eris Korenyx from Double double, Canada writes: First, this study sounds kind of stupid. Obviously certain locations are associated more with certain behaviours. It's a logical requirement. You go to theatres in an area where the theatre is, you hang out with scumbags in the areas where scumbags are.

    Second, if a teen is going to go into risky neighborhoods, isn't it better that she bring her cellphone along, rather that 'forget' to bring it because it would track her movements?

    Third, why not just chain them to a stake in the backyard with the family dog?
  31. Kataneh Emami from Canada writes: Well, let's first define a bad behavior! Is sexual activity bad for a teenager in its all forms? and...why is it just about girls? Aren't boys prone to bad behaviors as much as girls if not more?! I do agree with helping teenagers and assisting them whenever they need it. But being monitored all the time? I do not like it, and I think it is not a good idea especially if it encourages sexism by monitoring girls only.
  32. Dan Shortt from Toronto, Canada writes: Maybe we should be using a cellphone and GPS technology to monitor the whereabouts and track the activities of Dr. Sarah Wiehe. I wonder how she would like that?

    I'd be curious to know where Ms. Wiehe hangs out, what pubs and bars she frequents, where she goes to do her shopping, and when and where she's about to engage in sexual activity. How about it, Ms. Wiehe?

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