My entire family has been geo-tracking each other since the early 2000's when my Dad got his hands on some early tech through his work.<p>Never once has it been used in a toxic or controlling way. It's great for peace of mind or figuring out when someone's getting home.<p>Controlling parents will be controlling with or without technology.
Sharing location seems very different from the other things discussed in this article. Day-to-day it's convenient to have bi-directional location sharing amongst close family. It's also fairly simple to circumvent in the name of privacy (e.g. 'accidentally' leaving a phone somewhere or having two phones)<p>Reading texts? That's borderline abusive.
I'm sorry, but you're still tracking your 19 year old and calling them if they don't seem to be in class? They're an adult. If they haven't learned how to be responsible by now, then it's time you let them learn, possibly the hard way.<p>Having tracking capability in an emergency could be good. But my God, when do you expect them to be a fully functioning human if not by 19?
I understand the need to build trust with your children by respecting their privacy, but this is poorly confusing monitoring and supervision with spying.
My teen shares her location with all her friends, so I feel it’s fine for parents.<p>Sure makes pickup from games easier, it’s a River Run school not River Bend school, etc!
You shall manage your children's devices with the methods approved by Apple and Google. Any other software is malware, and will be flagged and revoked.