[Jeff Higgins]

A buddy just forwarded a text that his 16 year old daughter received from her mother, my buddy's ex. It contained what looked like a copy and paste from some sort of a tracking app that her mother must have installed on her phone. It had three blocks of information, Total Miles (223), Top Speed (96 mph, which was while riding with my buddy in his 911), and Total Drives (21). Her mother demanded to know who she was with, I'm sure owing to that 96 mph run.

I have very mixed feelings about this. Mostly negative. Yes, I can see some value in being able to track one's kids, but only in situations wherein they are missing, late, or presumed to be at some peril for whatever reason. But day to day, just to monitor this sort of information? Seems like the ultimate expression of "helicopter parenting".

Even if this technology were available when my two boys were that age (and maybe it was), I would have never considered using it. I had a lot more respect for their privacy and a lot more trust in them to have ever monitored them at this level. I feel truly sorry for kids that suffer under parents like this, who are that untrusting and controlling. Maybe that's part of why my buddy divorced her.