Helicopter parents existed before this, yes, but they were viewed as an overbearing subset of parents. They became the early adopters of this technology that didn’t need to be convinced to use it. The only kids I knew with phones growing up were the ones with parents who needed them to call to check in every hour.
But soon more and more kids had phones, so the paradigm quickly shifted, and what used to be considered overbearing and helicoptering became a normal amount of worry. You kid has the phone - why not call? Subsequently, not having your kid call to check in on a regular basis was soon seen as neglectful.
The same thing happened with phone tracking and things like air tags. At first I knew a few people who used them for their kids, and they felt the need to defend their decision to use them, but eventually enough people used them that nobody batted an eye, and not using them was viewed as unsafe.
Helicopter parents existed before this, yes, but they were viewed as an overbearing subset of parents.
I don’t agree with this premise at all. That was true in the 80’s when the movement first started, but by the late 90’s it was pretty widespread, at least in my area on the west coast of the US. Maybe this isn’t true in very rural US or other countries, but I’m pretty confident it was already becoming the norm in most of America by the time of the new millennium. I didn’t know a single elementary age kid growing up who would have been allowed to walk or ride a bike to school already by that point.
but eventually enough people used them that nobody batted an eye, and not using them was viewed as unsafe.
Again, I think you have this backwards: letting your kids go out unsupervised was already well accepted as being “bad parenting” well before air tags rolled around. The air tags are the excuse parents have for why they aren’t “bad parents” by letting their kids go out. They’re actually empowering more independence among kids and parents versus a society dead-set against allowing them that independence, as we see from the article.
I really think your timeline on this is all wrong and so it’s leading you to a backwards conclusion.
I don’t know if you’re a parent, but it’s pretty hard to convey just how judgmental society is towards every aspect of your parenting and how that can actually lead to real, tangibly harmful situations, nevermind mental health consequences. At best, the peer pressure is real, the depression and anxiety around being accused of being a bad parent is real, and at worst you have to be concerned over literally being arrested or having your kid taken from you. These are what pushes parents to use these devices; the ones that don’t trust their kids already have a well-accepted social framework of just not letting them go out unsupervised at all, which is the expectation at this point.
Helicopter parents existed before this, yes, but they were viewed as an overbearing subset of parents. They became the early adopters of this technology that didn’t need to be convinced to use it. The only kids I knew with phones growing up were the ones with parents who needed them to call to check in every hour.
But soon more and more kids had phones, so the paradigm quickly shifted, and what used to be considered overbearing and helicoptering became a normal amount of worry. You kid has the phone - why not call? Subsequently, not having your kid call to check in on a regular basis was soon seen as neglectful.
The same thing happened with phone tracking and things like air tags. At first I knew a few people who used them for their kids, and they felt the need to defend their decision to use them, but eventually enough people used them that nobody batted an eye, and not using them was viewed as unsafe.
I don’t agree with this premise at all. That was true in the 80’s when the movement first started, but by the late 90’s it was pretty widespread, at least in my area on the west coast of the US. Maybe this isn’t true in very rural US or other countries, but I’m pretty confident it was already becoming the norm in most of America by the time of the new millennium. I didn’t know a single elementary age kid growing up who would have been allowed to walk or ride a bike to school already by that point.
Again, I think you have this backwards: letting your kids go out unsupervised was already well accepted as being “bad parenting” well before air tags rolled around. The air tags are the excuse parents have for why they aren’t “bad parents” by letting their kids go out. They’re actually empowering more independence among kids and parents versus a society dead-set against allowing them that independence, as we see from the article.
I really think your timeline on this is all wrong and so it’s leading you to a backwards conclusion.
I don’t know if you’re a parent, but it’s pretty hard to convey just how judgmental society is towards every aspect of your parenting and how that can actually lead to real, tangibly harmful situations, nevermind mental health consequences. At best, the peer pressure is real, the depression and anxiety around being accused of being a bad parent is real, and at worst you have to be concerned over literally being arrested or having your kid taken from you. These are what pushes parents to use these devices; the ones that don’t trust their kids already have a well-accepted social framework of just not letting them go out unsupervised at all, which is the expectation at this point.