Keeping technological tabs on Junior

The digital age is forcing snoop-happy parents into uncharted territory.

It’s also forcing… The digital age is forcing snoop-happy parents into uncharted territory.

It’s also forcing software makers to keep up, and they are happy to oblige.

Software now exists that allows parents to monitor what Web sites a child visits. Tracking software allows a parent to see both sides of a child’s Instant Message conversations from a remote location — such as a work computer — and, if the conversation begins to worry the parent, to block the exchange. There are tracking devices that can be inserted into cell phones that alert parents when a child leaves the house with the phone.

Kids know when they are trusted, and when they are not. Traditionally more tech-savvy than their parents, today’s teens will be able to tell if they are being spied on; when that happens, they’ll resent their parents even more, which will inevitably lead to more of the kind of behavior parents are looking to prevent with their spying.

How much further will such developments go? It’s creepy to consider an extrapolation of this technological trend. How long before Junior gets a barcode imprinted on his neck and has to scan to leave the house? There will be no boundaries on tracking technology, as time marches forward.

Along with being generally unsettling, the advent of these technologies is one step further in the erosion of parental responsibilities. Before the Internet spawned new ways to misbehave, parents impressed values upon their children in decidedly low-tech ways — like talking, or leading by example. Instead, parents can put off telling Susie why it’s bad to talk to strangers in chat rooms until after they catch her in the act — which is a lopsided way to teach anyone anything.

And what’s the next step? If a kid sneaks around tracking software — which she will — and meets up with some shady characters with awful results, will the parents sue the software company? It’s a question of when, not if.

Even more unsettling is hacking on the opposite end. Who is to say that the perverts this software is meant to protect kids from won’t use the same programs to stalk their prey?

Kids found trouble before the Internet, and they will continue to do so. Parents need to stop relying on technology to keep their children safe. They need to step up and adhere to the job description they accepted as soon as they became parents.