Majority of US parents tracking kids’ online activities: is it healthy?

These days, children are definitely more tech-savvy than ever. But so are their ever-worried parents – a new study has shown that 80% of them track their kids’ online activities.

All About Cookies, an informational website focusing on digital security, has surveyed American parents to learn how many of them are spying on their children’s activities online.

In an age when kids are using technology at younger ages than ever, parents – who also have access to better tracking tools – naturally feel they need to keep a larger eye on them, so the poll's results are not exactly surprising.

It turns out that 80% of parents check their children's location, including 54% who check it frequently. More than one in three parents actually do it without letting their children know.

54% of parents monitor their kids’ texts, and 76% have access to their children’s phone passwords. Many parents also track their kids’ social media accounts, screen time, and internet browsing history.

76% of them say tracking their kids’ behaviors has led children to make better choices. That’s also because the majority of parents (64%) have caught their children doing something they shouldn’t, all thanks to digital tracking, the study says.

The most common way that parents track their kids is by using the built-in tracking functionality in their children’s cell phones, such as Find My on iPhones and Find My Device on Androids.

58% of parents say they use these default programs to monitor where their children are, while a similar percentage (53%) use dedicated family monitoring apps such as Life360 or Glympse.

The most common way that parents track their kids is by using the built-in tracking functionality in their children’s cell phones.

When it comes to letting their kids know that somebody is watching them, 39% of parents choose not to tell their children that their location is being monitored.

Some experts think that can be unhealthy. Rob Weisskirch, a professor of human development at California State University, said that tracking software on children’s devices is more or less an invasion of trust if not privacy.

“Parents and children establish a sense of trust by having a strong relationship. If parents have to rely on tracking software to verify a child’s truthfulness of where they are, then something is broken in the relationship,” said Weisskirch.

“Kids have a right to be kids, and sometimes that means being in places unsupervised. Tracking software is not a resolution for a poor relationship.”

According to Weisskirch, constant surveillance inevitably undermines a child’s sense of autonomy and self-efficacy. When kids are deprived of opportunities to manage on their own, they become fearful, anxious, and indecisive.