![]() But he told me the tracker is to assuage his fears he described it as “training wheels for me, for my anxiety.” What’s he afraid of? He’s not really sure. I expressed surprise that he felt the need to essentially LoJack such a child. She’s a rule-abiding, neurotypical kid he’s not concerned that she’ll abuse her new freedom, and he’s not worried that she’s not up to the responsibilities she has been granted. ![]() He said he checks her location about once a week, usually only when she doesn’t text him after she’s arrived at school. The watch also has the functionality to alert him if she goes outside a predetermined geographic area, which he doesn’t use. He was describing this smartwatch his 11-year-old daughter has, which enables him to track her movements as she walks several blocks to school. I didn’t know what a Gizmo was until I had coffee with one of my saner friends. Still, the appeal of Gizmo is strong, even for parents who are ambivalent about overprotection. And more heartbreakingly, trackers may prevent our kids from feeling truly free. For example: “The Wizard lets kids be kids and gives parents the confidence to allow their children to explore the world outside, without the stress and fear of wondering where they are or if they are safe.” Parents in online reviews echo the latter sentiment, about assuaging parental anxiety - “Nowadays you just can’t be too safe!” these parents are saying, and, “You want to know where they are and that they are safe at every moment.”īut these products miss the point of what it means to be a kid, hampering children on the road to independence. Many of the products marketed to parents include some texting, phone call and pedometer features, but one of their major selling points is safety. The smartwatch market as a whole is nearly $5 billion in the United States, and it’s projected to grow 18 percent in 2020, said Ben Arnold, a consumer technology industry analyst at NPD Group, a market research company. There’s also the Wizard Watch, the dokiPal and the Tick Talk, among others. Take the Gizmo, a smartwatch marketed to parents of children as young as 3 as a safety tool, which allows parents to track their children using GPS. This vision of childhood seems harder and harder to realize today. I recall feeling high on that freedom - it’s a feeling I want my kids to have, too. Our parents didn’t know our exact coordinates, and they didn’t seem to care that we didn’t come home at the same time every day. ![]() It’s a composite of many days when we’d stop at a park next to the train station on our way home and play tag or swing, our legs pumping in the cool fall air. ![]() One of my fondest memories from late elementary school is walking a mile home with a pack of friends. ![]()
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