A coalition of more than 70 health professionals has issued a stark warning to parents, stating that the widespread use of phone and AirTag tracking is creating a "deeply concerning" increase in anxiety among young people. The group, comprising psychologists, doctors, and nurses, urges families to reconsider the 'surveillance childhood' they are sleepwalking into.
The Invisible Umbilical Cord
The experts argue that constant digital monitoring implicitly tells children the world is unsafe and prevents them from learning vital life skills and autonomy. Clare Fernyhough, co-founder of the campaign group Generation Focus, states, "It's so normal to want to keep our children safe, but there is no evidence that tracking makes them any safer."
Journalist Polly Hudson echoes this sentiment, describing location tracking as a staggering invasion of privacy. She recalls a fraught experience during her son's school trip to Lille, where an AirTag in his backpack showed him stationary at St Pancras station, triggering an irrational panic. "Technology is great, until it isn't," she writes, highlighting the maddening ambiguity of such tools.
Beyond Children: The Partner Tracking Trend
Hudson reveals she is an outlier among her peers, not only refusing to track her 11-year-old son but also her husband. At a dinner party, she discovered friends routinely track their partners' locations, a practice she equates to snooping and a violation of trust. "I want to feel independent, not microchipped, like a pet," she asserts, arguing that such surveillance forces a relentless honesty no marriage needs.
Her son provided simple, logical resistance when asked about being tracked for his new solo bus journey to secondary school: "If you want to know where I am, you can just ring me."
A Cultural Shift in Parenting
The article draws a powerful analogy: You wouldn’t physically follow your kids around, sidle up to them behind a newspaper with eye-holes cut out. It posits that teenagers being less than fully honest is a normal rite of passage. The health professionals describe constant tracking as an "invisible umbilical cord" and hope their warning will encourage parents to cut it.
Ultimately, the piece questions a culture where online behaviour diverges drastically from real-world norms, advocating for trust and freedom as essential components of healthy family dynamics and child development.
