Parents Monitoring their Children on the Internet - Essay Example

The widespread use of various digital technologies by todays teenagers to access the internet has made it difficult for parents globally to monitor their social behaviours while still maintaining an appropriate level of oversight. According to Anderson of Pew Research Center, parents, advocates, and lawmakers have raised concerns such as privacy issues, cyberbullying, and online safety affecting teenagers. A survey by the firm (Pew Research) found that parents are taking a hands-on approach to regulate and monitor what their kids do. It was found that 60% of parents surveyed say that they check the websites their children visit and a further 58% indicated that they go through their children's text messages and also follow them on Facebook and Twitter. The findings of the research depict that a growing number of parents have been personally monitoring their children on social media profiles while others going to the extent of using tracking tools and parental controls or what is referred to as "digitally grounding." However, as Rooney, a Lecturer at Australian Catholic University argues, spying on your children on the internet will only undermine the trust between the two. In this light, this paper will discuss how monitoring your child on the internet can lead to trust issues between the parent and the child. The findings in this paper delineate the significance of trusting your child while he or she is using the internet instead of using parental control measures to monitor the childs activities.

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Recently, the growing market in the Teensafe App has developed controversy and criticism from cyber safety experts. According to Sami of ABC News, major concerns have been raised about the app because it has renewed debate on issues such as teens privacy and parental rights. The fact that the app cannot be detected on the phone by the user allows the parent to monitor the child without the child knowing. This undermines the trust because if a parent does not tell the child he or she is monitored, then there is likely to be a breach of trust. In the U.S, Teensafe App already has a million users; this delineates the growing number of parents mistrusting their kids' activities online.

The most significant impact of parent monitoring the child online is the risk to the relationship, and this is recognized as an aspect of trust. It is well known that trust takes time to build so if it is broken it takes time to rebuild. Imagine a child realizes later on that his parent has been spying on him or her using the Teensafe App, what would be the impact on the child? Certainly, this would leave the child feeling very isolated and would also interfere with the capacity of the child to build relationships with other people. The example of the Teensafe app reflects on the flow-on effects to the kid's friendships. Now imagine the child growing up not trusting his parents ever again and consequently affecting the relationship with his friends and peers.

In this perspective, it is imperative to realize that trust is the core of every relationship we have. Most of the things or people we value most such as friends and family are grounded on some level of trust. Therefore, parents placing confidence in their children is crucial in their everyday interactions. Even though it is a risky business, the fruits of instilling trust are sweeter as compared to entrusting others which leave us vulnerable to the potential of harming people we care about. As for children, trusting them is an expression of confidence and allows them to gradually learn the ropes and trust enables them to find their way through hurdles even though this sometimes means making mistakes.

Works Cited

Anderson, Monica. "Parents, Teens And Digital Monitoring". Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. N.p., 2016. Web. 1 Nov. 2016.

Rooney, Tonya. "Spying On Kid's Phone With Teensafe Will Only Undermine Trust". The Conversation. N.p., 2015. Web. 1 Nov. 2016.

Sami, Mandie. "Teensafe: Cyber Safety Expert Sounds Warning Over Clause Allowing App To Share Personal Information". ABC News. N.p., 2015. Web. 1 Nov. 2016.