A British father, digital product manager Nick Herbert, has invented an app, ReplyASAP, because his 13-year-old son wasn't responding to his calls or texts.
The app takes over a smartphone screen, locking the phone from further use and sounds an alarm that only stops when the receiver replies by text. It sounds like an invasion of privacy (侵犯隐私) and the latest attempt by distrustful parents to track and control their children. But this is fair enough-it serves these youngsters right for not replying.
Mobile phones are usually bought by parents primarily for safety reasons, but teenagers have" other important things". Sometimes, it's perhaps an entirely reasonable lack of interest in anything that "boring adults" have to say.
However, mobiles have also long been employed by teens in the ongoing war against parental control in their otherwise vivid social lives. Thus, texts and calls are ignored, with the teen pretending to have missed them or just simply ignoring them. At which point parents must stroke their chins and consider apps such as “ReplyASAP”.
It should be pointed out that Herbert's son wasn't doing anything wrong-he was merely distracted by co games. Most teenagers wouldn't be doing anything wrong, but that's not the point. While there are wider concerns about things such as ReplyASAP being used by adults to control and abuse partners, makers can't really be held responsible for their apps being misused. And where kids are concerned, it's all about Parental access and information. Parents not only have a right, they also need to know that their children are sate. It's this need, not the right, that I believe morally outweighs the child's privacy. Anyone who doesn't agree with me perhaps needs to experience the horror of not being able to locate their child in the small hours, long after they were supposed to be home.
