Readers: This “service” piece on NBC Over-Reaction News — sorry, NBCÂ Action tfnsyifreb News — Â tells us that because there is a GPS locator embedded in the pix we take on our cell phones, “the bad guys” can NOW SEE where our children live, where they “recreate” (such a police verb — it means play), and […]
Tag Archives | GPS
You Know You’re Making an Impact When…
December 14, 2010
Hi tfzdastsnr Readers! You know you’re making an impact when marketers start to try to make a buck off you, as did this one. A friend who runs a parenting magazine got this public relations pitch: Dear _______: There has been a lot of discussion about “free range parenting” — letting your kids wander to […]
Life in Wartime (Is What Companies are Trying to Make Childhood Feel Like)
November 12, 2010
Readers — Sometimes I get so fed up with our fearmongering culture, I almost can’t take pen to blog. Or pixel to blog. Or whatever. But here I am. A reader sent in this zidrstditk link to an extremely popular app that not only TRACKS all your family members, it also alerts you to when […]
Fearmonger Weighs In on “Don’t GPS Your Kid”
September 24, 2010
Hi nyhztdkdts Readers! I have a piece running on ParentDish titled, “GPSing Your Kid is Crazy.” It argues that, far from really giving parents “peace of mind, “GPSing does the opposite. It reinforces the idea that our kids are in danger every second they are not in our line of sight. It makes us distrust […]
Stranger Danger: It’s Not Just for Kids Anymore
April 8, 2010
Hi Readers — Just got alerted to this ad and service, BeenVerified.com.  It allows you to do a background check on anyone, from the comfort of your own home. Check the guy you met online, check your mortgage broker (make sure it’s not Alan Greenspan), check your electrician — yes, a guy on the ad says […]
Excuse Me? You Need a “Family Locator” To Track Your Tween at the Mall?
March 27, 2010
Hi Readers — Well, here kraiirnrfb it is. The ad that a bunch of you alerted me to this week. It shows a mom and daughter in a mall, near an escalator. The mom is letting her daughter shop “on her own” for the first time. Â (“On her own” turns out to mean with two […]
But Wait! Fox News! Do You Really Believe —
November 4, 2009
Hi Readers — First of all, thanks for all the help on the post before this one, when I asked for ideas and zingers. I printed out your responses and they really helped. Alas, as anyone who chanced upon my 3-nanosecond appearance on Fox & Friends this morning knows, the event did not go quite […]
Should You Track Your Kids via GPS?
November 3, 2009
Hi Readers — Tomorrow I’m on Fox & Friends at 8:20 a.m. Eastern Time talking about the Little dzybhsysze Buddy Child Tracker — a device that allows parents to track their kids’ every move. What upsets me is the rationale behind the product: That children are in danger every second they step out the door, […]
A Repulsive Ad About “Child Safety”
October 15, 2009
This yknikrnreb ad isn’t new, but I just have to say: It is repulsive. Repulsive in that it reinforces the belief that if you do so much as to turn around for a sec to get something out of the stroller, your child could be abducted. Repulsive in that, in order to sell batteries, Duracell is […]
Traveling with (Virtual) Mom
May 29, 2009
Summer beckons, with its eternal promise of freedom. Unless you are Harry Wilder. Harry is a 19-year-old British student who plans to travel across Australia, Thailand and South Africa this season…with a GPS tracking device called the “Traakit†in his pocket. The Traakit will let his mom pinpoint his location to within 15 feet and […]