kengr

The local news last night had an item about a new service Nextel is offering parents. A cell phone for their kids that has GPS (a lot do) with real time tracking info (including speed) available on the web. And things like being able to define an "electronic fence" boundary (the example was around the school) so that they'll get notified if the kid leaves the defined area.

They had a girl and her parents do a trial of it.

The girl was complaining about her parents calling and telling her she was driving too fast (what sort of idiots distract someone who is "driving too fast"???!!!) and calling her to ask why she was driving 11 mph when she was stopped at a traffic light.

The girl and several other teens thought it was *really* a bad idea. One commented "It's like having your parents in your pocket all the time".

The parents of the girl said that they thought it went too far as well, but they could see how it might be appropriate for some kids.

Me, if they'd had those when I was a kid, I'd have wrapped mine in foil or something.