If the parents or guardians want to see what their child is sending or receiving on their phone then it is their legal and moral right to be able to.
Children do have certain civil rights but the right to hide text messages sent to and from their cell phones is not (one of them). Parents are the ones paying for the cell phones and it’s parents who are thinking of the best thing for their kid’s well-being.
Detective Mike Harris has been dealing with the issue of predators texting children and has discovered that about 35 percent of middle school children have at least received a text message from someone they didn’t know. Harris says that he meets kids as young as 8 years old with cell phones and these predators will continually text these children until they get a response. Parents are right to take action and try to prevent this great fear of theirs by any means necessary. Frankly, it would be quite irresponsible if you were to give an 8-year-old a cell phone and not monitor its use at all. It is the parents’ right and decision in the end whether or not they want to take this security measure or if they simply trust their child enough to make smart decisions in regards to texting. Either way this law makes it a choice and not mandatory so no one has to use the new feature.
Ty Gilbert
Mesa
sockratties posted at 6:46 pm on Sat, Mar 10, 2012.
Sorry Ty, you get an “F” on your paper. What law and what new feature are you alluding to?
And yes, parents do have both the right and the responsibility to monitor all communications to and from their kids' phones. It is becoming ever more difficult keep up with technology and we need all the help we can get.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 12:23 pm on Sun, Mar 11, 2012.
The Loonies are running the Asylum in most American homes these days. The children tell the parents what they want to do...what they want to wear...how they want to live their lives.
If your son or daughter has a lock on their bedroom door...get a drill.
If your son or daughter has a sign on their bedroom door..."No Entry" "No Trespassing" or "Keep Out"....tear it up now.
Sit your children down and read them the "riot act"...you are paying for their room and board and you expect them to earn good grades and help around the house. No allowance is necessary. If they want money for anything...and I do mean anything...then they should have to come to you and ask for it and give you the receipt back and the change after they show you what they purchased. You are responcible for them "legally". They should be responcible to you. There should be consequences for their bad behavior. Too bad spanking is out but denial of the car, the phone, the lap top is not. Homework and term projects should be shown to you the parent every day. Have your teenagers write out the checks for the bills every month so that they know, as a family, what it costs to run a household. Have your kids help you figure out the income taxes and go over the house taxes so that when they become adults and homeowners they will know ....."what's what".
Find out who their friends are and if you don't approve of them....tell your children why. If your daughter dresses like a hooker...she will act like one too. The same goes for the boys. If they dress like a "gangbanger wanna-be" they will act like one too.
YOU ARE THE ADULT..............ACT LIKE IT......TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR OWN HOME.
sockratties posted at 4:50 pm on Sun, Mar 11, 2012.
Leon -- I don't agree with you often but this time 100%.[thumbup]
Masterrogue666 posted at 6:43 pm on Sun, Mar 11, 2012.
I'm responsible for my daughter, so that gives me the right. I pay the bills, so that gives me the right. If she lives under "my roof", that gives me the right.
Otherwise, no phone. Besides, you can demand to have texting disabled. If you want to give me a message, call (voicemail, just in case) or write me (mail or email).
liviaills posted at 10:37 am on Tue, Mar 13, 2012.
Why wouldn't you, as a parent, have the right to check on your child's phone - don't most of us pay for it for our kids? I don't see it as an invansion of their privacy at all when you tell them that the phone is for family and emergencies - I'm not naive enough to believe any kid would use their phone just for that though. My son, who is 12, does not have a cell phone, but his older sister who turned 14 does have one and there are plenty of rules on it. I started her off with a prepaid cell phone from Tracfone since the aircards the phone operates on are uploaded by me on a tri-monthly basis -- it's up to her to restrict herself or else the phone will not be active during that time or until I reload it for her. Even though the usage is being restricted by me via the service, I still feel I have the right to check her usage as I see fit. The difference with a basic cell phone like those from Tracfone is you have less to wade thru because you can purchase phones with no internet or app access.
VofReason posted at 1:05 pm on Tue, Mar 13, 2012.
Earth to people. Kids do not need cellphones. As you may remember, you did not have one and some how some way were able to meet people at the proper time, get home on time, connect with freinds etc. Why as a society do we think that if your kid cannot press little buttons on a phone 24 hours a day that you are doing them a dis service. I think just the opposite. You are turning them into a dependant of a calculator that makes calls and takes pictures. Stop now........