Parents are using AirTags to track kids
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 28 July 2023
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Some parents are using tracking devices meant for keys to keep tabs on kids too young for smartphones.
Read more:
Apple AirTags are not meant to track your kids. But that’s exactly how some parents are using them. In backpacks, on wristbands, they are making it so parents worried about introducing their children to a smartphone can access their child’s location in case something goes wrong.
And AirTags aren’t the only tech marketed toward the fear of parents. There are flip phones, watches and other devices marketed specifically for making sure your child is accounted for.
Technology reporter Heather Kelly wanted to look into this as her own son heads into the fourth grade and searches for more independence. She’ll uncover how the tech works, its pitfalls and the ethics of tracking your children.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, this is Will Aremus, and when I'm not guest hosting post reports, I'm a tech |
| 0:06.0 | reporter here at the post. |
| 0:07.9 | One of the fun things about guest hosting is I get to talk to some of my colleagues about |
| 0:11.5 | what they're working on. |
| 0:13.0 | My name is Heather Kelly. |
| 0:14.0 | I'm a technology reporter here with you at The Washington Post, but I'm also a parent. |
| 0:19.0 | Who am I? |
| 0:20.0 | You're my mom. |
| 0:21.0 | I am. |
| 0:22.0 | How long have I been your mom? |
| 0:24.0 | Nine years. |
| 0:25.0 | What's the long time? |
| 0:26.0 | It's been pretty cool, huh? |
| 0:27.9 | So can you tell me a little bit about the kind of adventures you go on? |
| 0:32.6 | Are you allowed to walk around by yourself? |
| 0:35.0 | I'm allowed to walk to my friend's house, and he lives a couple of walks away. |
| 0:42.7 | I'm sometimes go to the park and go to the library. |
| 0:51.6 | So my oldest child is nine years old. |
| 0:54.1 | He's going to fourth grade, and he's spending a summer exploring the neighborhood, going |
| 0:59.2 | to friends' houses by himself, and just exploring this newfound independence. |
| 1:02.5 | Are you afraid of anything when you're out in the city? |
| 1:05.9 | Um, I'm scared of people trying to kidnap me. |
... |
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