A button on the jacket, an app on the cell phone – and all parental worries about lost children are a thing of the past once and for all, because the child can simply be tracked in an emergency. Sounds great? But Bluetooth tracking has its pitfalls …
The days when children had to mark their paths with breadcrumbs, as in Hansel and Gretel, are over. Today we live in modern media worlds and can track children instead of looking for them. This works, for example, via devices such as smartwatches that locate themselves via GPS and immediately pass on the child’s location to the parents.
But there is another option and that is Bluetooth trackers. The best known are probably the Apple Airtags or Samsung SmartTags, but there are also many other trackers from other providers. These small devices, the size and appearance of key rings, were originally designed to make objects easier to find. If you attach it to your key ring, wallet, bobby car – or even your child – you can locate it via Bluetooth if necessary. The connection between the tracker and smartphone (app) does not work via satellites as with GPS, but directly via radio waves. The tracker connects to an accessible smartphone with a tracker app and can thus determine and send an approximate location. Compared to GPS trackers, Bluetooth trackers are often smaller and lighter, the battery lasts longer and there are no monthly fees. However, they also work somewhat less accurately, especially in the countryside when there are only a few smartphones nearby.
Bluetooth trackers are not the magic cure for relaxed childcare.
On the one hand, Bluetooth is not technically the ultimate in searches: the trackers only really work if there are many matching devices in the vicinity. It therefore makes sense to use a popular tracking app, which is also installed on many other smartphones and helps to determine the location. In the forest, for example, they make no sense at all. In addition, they can only transmit an approximate location. For this reason, a specific area must still be searched in large crowds.
On the other hand, the legal situation is still a little unclear. After all, children also have personal rights – and these include the right not to be monitored without their consent. So at the very least, a conversation and the child’s consent are required to fit them with a tracker. There is also the aspect of data economy to consider: if children are constantly sending and receiving Bluetooth data, strangers can also obtain location information that is none of their business.
And then there is the relationship aspect: secretly monitoring a child is not conducive to building trust in the relationship.
So what to do when the question of a tracker arises?
Have an open conversation with your child and discuss the arguments and scenarios with them in an age-appropriate manner. There are certainly situations – for example in amusement parks, at events or similar – where a tracker gives both you as parents and your child a certain freedom of movement and security. Anxious children in particular may be able to take more independent steps with a tracker in their pocket. In other, less dangerous moments, your child can also enjoy your trust and learn their own strategies for finding their way around.
In all of this, it is important that your child does not get the feeling that they are being monitored or that you do not trust them. So be sure to talk about the ideas and arguments, possibilities and limitations of trackers – and decide together in which situations they seem useful and helpful to all family members and when not. At around 6 to 7 years of age, you can explain the tracking measure to your child in a child-friendly way.
They’re trending and can be seen on some teenagers’ wrists: small fitness trackers that look like watches. They record steps, eating behavior or energy consumption. What are fitness trackers and how can they be used safely?
Fitness trackers or so-called “wearables” are technical devices worn close to the body. They are equipped with sensors to measure and record movement data or health data, e.g. pulse. The data can then be evaluated and stored on a tablet or PC in an app via a wireless connection. Measuring, logging, evaluating and visualizing one’s exercise habits makes it very easy to see how many steps have been taken in a day or how many kilometers one rides on the bike each day on the way to school. This can raise awareness about how much or how little we move.
Monitoring exercise success through fitness tracking can help youth maintain motivation for their exercise activities and improve exercise outcomes. The direct positive feedback is a personal confirmation of having achieved something and can have a positive effect on self-confidence.
Fitness tracking also has a social factor. Young people orient themselves particularly strongly to their peers. They strive for acceptance and seek positive affirmations. Thus, the feeling of belonging can be increased by sharing personal training successes with friends.
The need to please others, on the other hand, can put pressure on adolescents and push them to go beyond their limits. Sharing the collected fitness tracker data among one’s group of friends can lead to competition among each other. Additionally, it increases the risk for youth who are not as athletic to be excluded within their friend group. Constantly comparing one’s own performance to others can create pressure to perform and push the practice of sports or certain eating habits in an unhealthy direction. However, sports or nutrition should not be used to prove something to others, but to do something good for yourself and your own body.
Many fitness tracking apps also record and share a lot of personal data. Some youth also share data on social media in public posts. This gives strangers access to private information. Thus, sensitive data, such as the regular running route, can be seen and misused by strangers.
With a few precautions, you can prevent misuse of your own data. You can explore and customize the app settings together with your child. In doing so, you can jointly determine which data may be shared and which may not. Restricting the usage rights of personal data does not usually degrade app performance.
Additionally, you can discuss with your child whether personal training successes may be shared online via social media and what this means.
And if you decide against using a fitness tracker: As an alternative to fitness tracking apps, team sports or organized sporting events with friends can also provide comparable positive experiences of success for young people and promote social skills.
In a recent study on teen self-tracking, you’ll find detailed results on how teens use self-tracking apps and tools.
There is a two-page information brochure on the subject of data protection, which answers all the important questions. The consumer advice center has published a detailed study on the subject of data protection and fitness tracking.
You can see them on more and more arms of adults, but also of children: smartwatches. Does your child have such a smart watch? If it also wears the watch to school, you should know what to look for.
Smartwatches designed especially for children can pose problems. In fact, some devices allow you to record sounds with the built-in microphone. Children or even parents can listen to and record conversations from a distance without being noticed. But you can’t just secretly make recordings of others! Smartwatches with such a function are even banned. If you or your child has a smartwatch that has apps on it that enable “voice monitoring,” “baby monitor” or “one-way conversation,” that watch must be destroyed. Those who do not comply face up to two years imprisonment or a fine.
But even watches that do not have this function can lead to conflicts. For example, they invite cheating or secretly taking photos of others in class. Because you can not always clearly distinguish them from “normal” wristwatches. This also increases the risk of cyberbullying, for example, when unflattering photos of others are circulated.
To protect fellow students and teachers, smartwatches are sometimes banned at schools. Teachers are allowed to collect them and do not have to return them until after class.
Not all watches with integrated cell phone or camera are banned, but only those with which you can make unnoticed sound recordings and show them to others. If you are considering purchasing a smartwatch, you should also pay attention to this – even though watches with listening capabilities are actually no longer allowed to be sold!
Even if your child has a permitted smartwatch, it’s important to talk to them about using it beforehand. Explain to him that, for example, you can’t just take photos of others without asking their permission first. Read more about this topic in our article: The smartwatch as an entry into the digital world?
