Teen safety or invasion of privacy?
Teenagers use their cell phones for everything. They are not able to go without it or not have it in their hands because of the people they need to keep in touch with, the work they have on it, their music, and so much more.
As their phones are devices that hold their lives, many teenagers would have a big problem if anyone were to see the things they have on it– especially if those people were their parents.
A new law in South Korea requires that smartphone users under the age of 18 must have an app on their phone that allows parents to supervise their child’s mobile activity. But is this not an abusive act on someone’s privacy and their freedom of speech?
One could surely never feel comfortable using their cell freely when they know there is someone watching their every move on it.
About 80 percent of teenagers in South Korea who own cell phones have no choice but to allow their parents to monitor their every click.
Many apps have been created by the South Korean government, including one called Smart Sheriff, that grants parents access to check how long their kids are on their phones for, the websites they visit and even their location.
The apps can track things as specific as the words the teens search and type into their phones. This is clearly an obstruction of privacy, which could lead to several bad outcomes.
The government claims that this law is only meant to protect the young South Koreans from harmful content that could be found and discovered with a smartphone.
Allegedly, their reason for creating such a rule is for the benefit of the young adults and for the sake of their safety. Even with their positive goal, the law is unnecessary.
There are plenty of other ways that the government could promote safer browsing among teenagers. Being constantly watched is not one of them.
Perhaps instead, the government could enforce lessons in schools or parents could even take the time to explain the consequences and dangers of the online world.
As young adults grow and go through their stages of development, their privacy becomes something of great value for their being. Once this privacy is broken, a teen’s mental state could be compromised.
This overbearing supervision can cause teenagers to overthink their social lives and activity.
They may begin to question their own behaviors and will lead them to being paranoid. The teens might start to believe that their parents do not have trust in them and will start to think that they are doing something wrong.
Knowing that they are being watched will definitely change teenager’s behaviors.
Teenagers will begin to get antsy, and may even resort to extreme measures to get around their parents’ surveillance.
Most teenagers find their time of seclusion when they are on their phones. Once their privacy is limited, teens are willing to do anything to gain it back which can lead to rebellious actions, and possibly illegal activities.
Everyone has seen it. Teens could be surrounded by many, but not have their focus on anything but the screen in their hands. This just shows the important role technology plays on today’s generation.
When a guardian is at another end, observing the exact motion of every move their child makes on their phone, it may affect the minor’s sense of their own freedom which can lead to damage in their relationship with their parents.
This new law brings up the impression that parents do not trust their own children. Knowing that a teenager does not have a trustful type of relationship with their own parents could gravely wound a child’s feelings.
It would be healthier for the families to learn how to speak to each other about the rights and wrongs of using a smartphone instead of using a monitor that restricts what the child might want to do on it.
The new law is basically encouraging parents to damage the communication with their kids.This intrusive act may harm the young adults more severely than a threatening government could imagine.
Whatever the government believes they could find on a teenager’s smartphone could not nearly be as bad as a torn family relationship.
Experts inform that in effect of this brand-new law, it may create a generation that accepts the act of invasive supervising.
This can be dangerous to the future of advancing technology as all new advancements may begin to have some sort of monitoring implement.
Someone can never think too far ahead when questioning the future of technology. It is something that spreads faster than anything else that is created.
When numerous adolescents have intrusive behavior from their elders before them, it may influence their ideas of what is right and wrong. As an outcome, these teens may grow up to create new devices that are required to have tracking tools on them.
They will not know any better than to include these features that they believe will secure themselves and the youth because that is the understanding that the government has set out for them.
The regulation to have a teenager’s parents monitor their cell phones at all times will become a problem for the household’s relationship and the forthcoming technology that will advance with this generation.
The issue of keeping the young safe from the dangers that can come with a smartphone can be solved in better ways than prying conduct from parents.
To have a monitoring device on someone’s phone should be a choice. Teenagers should speak with their parents of the decision and this should allow them to make their bond more trustful. It is their own smartphone after all and they have the right to do as they like on it. If parents are worried about the things their child could do with the device, it should be a problem they can solve within their own family.
It is possible for the parents to put restrictions on certain things to ensure their safety rather than persistently monitoring their child’s activity.
It is rather absurd to make having a tracking gadget on one’s phone a law in which someone could get punished for. The thoughts of what a teen might want to do on their phones should not be going through the government.
Why does the the government have to get involved with their lives? There are issues bigger than a teenager’s actions on their own cell phone.
Of course, this most definitely ensures the safety of teenagers because parents will always know where there child is, or what they are doing but it is still outrageous.
A problem like this does not seem to be in the right place with an authority like the government.
South Korea’s new law will bring issues to many families and the future devices that these teenagers will create.
It would be best for this rule to be thought over again and be altered to give the youth their freedom back seeing as how this can only bring several bad outcomes.
Senior Judy Nanaw is the Health Editor for the A-Blast and this is her second year on staff. Before this year, her position was a staff writer. She is...