Seems like an ok idea until you realise you could just give them a key chain, or put it in the small pocket in their trouser if you think they’ll lose it. That way you don’t have to buy into a whole ecosystem of shoes with a slot that fits an airtag.
I’m not concerned with tracking where my kids are with these, but tracking their shoes sounds kinda useful. Average daily conversation in my house:
"Where are you shoes?" "I don't know?" "You were just in the middle of putting them on!?!!" "Yeah but... I can't find them now." "How? You had them in your hands?!?" "That was, um, before I got distracted." "*sigh* Let's go try and find them."Are your kids smoking weed?
Nope, kids are just like this
ADHD is a hell of a drug
Parents worry about their kids. All mammals I’ve ever heard of do this. So when you tell human parents that they can have a better chance of finding their kids if their kids are missing, injured, or abducted, that’s going to appeal.
I don’t believe it’s about sUrVeIlLaNcE at all.
Maybe good in a country that has barily any walking or cycling infrastructure, where every idiot has a gun and where all the biggest serial killers originate from. And where recently your kid can be kidnapped by unmarked unrecognizable fake police and sent to a concentration camp in El Salvador without any legal process.
But when you live in a first world country, your 8 year old should be able to go to school by bike on his own without issues what so ever, would never be kidnapped and would be brought home by a concerned neighbor when he falls and get injured. And would never get lost. You don’t need an air tag for that. I’ve even seen kids go to school on their own in Cambodia without issues. They have over 40 different deadly snakes including 6 types of cobras.
When you treat a kid as an irresponsible criminal and/or idiot, that’s what they will become.
The problem in this thread seems to be that children are seen as one homogenous group of people between ages 0 to 17. And you can either send you 5 year old to NYC without any technology by themselves, or check your 17 year old’s location 24/7. Forget about any kind of in between.
Like, of course I am “surveilling” my 3 year old, I am literally obligated to. I do this with my own eyes or leave them in the care of a capable person, although depending on the situation (relative, babysitter, daycare) it is still me who is liable when something happens.
I am happy to leave my 8 year old rumble around freely as long as they return home by a time that we agreed on. We can very well also agree on them calling if they won’t make it home by the agreed time, and if they don’t call or pick up their phone within an additional 30 minutes, I will check their location. This can be a known and agreed upon checking. And it is about mutual trust. I trust my kid at a certain age to be responsible and keep track of time, and be available by phone (unless otherwise agreed or if they don’t have a phone to begin with), as well as be where we agreed they would be, without checking. And I hope my kid will also trust me to keep up my side of the agreement. I won’t check unless it’s past return time and you are not picking up your phone.
This mutual trust is important in families. You deserve privacy, even if you are a kindergartener. This privacy will expand with age. This is like hiding your locked diary or leaving an open diary on your desk. You should not feel the need to hide it because I for sure won’t look at it. It is yours. Similarly, you can roam around freely even with an airtag. This thing is not for daily use.
Now, does my 17 year old need an airtag? To me they are basically an adult. Hell knows I had all the freedom in the world at that age. If they feel safer knowing I could check on them when they are on a night out, maybe we can keep a similar agreement as above. But otherwise it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to me.
Just because they can, doesn’t mean they should. Is there a significant net benefit, or is it just fear monetized?
Wait. Parents now put airtags in kids their weed compartment?
A lot of people don’t know this, but you can put your weed in there.
ah yes the old “hide your weed in the back of your PS2/under your Gamecube” method.
RIP expansion bays
I would rather not
“Surveillance-minded” (hereafter, “Helicopter”) parents were almost certainly already doing that.
It just required a sharp knife and a tube of contact adhesive previously.
I was under the impression this is the main selling point of AirTags. Is there a real market for tracking lost luggage? I see AirTags being sold in every Kid’s store around here.
My dog has one on her collar. She got lost once, after chasing a squirrel, so it was a no brainer. The cool thing is that you can make it go off, by pressing a button, and train the dog to come to you when it chirps. I hope I never need to use it in an emergency, but it’s good to know I’m prepared.
That’s a great recall cue.
Isnt that chirp kind of loud to be right next to their really sensitive ears? Ive only heard a 3rd party one chirp and it hurt…
The AirTag chirp is not that loud. Yes if you held it right to your ear canal it might be uncomfortable but the distance from neck collar to ear I wouldn’t worry about.
That makes me feel a little better. Dobt they have much more sensitive hearing than we do though?
Any dog’s bark is significantly louder than an AirTag chirp. It’s fine.
Good to know :)
Sensitive like a fine-tuned instrument or detector, not sensitive like a delicate item!
I have one in a very well hidden pocket in my backpack. Because it’s my gig bag, and goes with me when I’m working in the field. If I were just leaving it under my desk all day, I wouldn’t bother. But since it often ends up sitting in the corner of a random room while I run around a building, it has an AirTag buried in it.
Some shoes even already had compartments in them and came with a toy car that fit in there
be kid
find this in your shoe
get idea
catch seagull
tie airtag to its foot.
go see mom having a fit
The Simpsons already did it.
Kids have a distinct advantage in this ongoing consumer tech war between parents and kids.
I don’t use TikTok, but I’d be pretty surprised if this wasn’t already starting to trend there, along with ideas for where to put the airtags to fool parents.
Maybe just… talk to your kids?
When the kids find the “hidden” compartments immediately and swap their tags around.
Parent: “Why does Billy keep going to his friend’s house in the other county?”
“It says his left shoe is supposed to be here, but all I see is his right shoe! How is this possible!?”
This reminds me of an episode of Black Mirror that I can’t remember the name of.
I’m guessing Arkangel
Yes! You’re the best!
This is obviously for little kids, not teenagers sneaking out.
As a parent with small children, a subtle fear of them getting lost or kidnapped is always at the back of the mind.
Ehgh these days that’s not terrible
showing my age but when I was a kid during the summer or on weekends I’d be out of the house all day and just where ever in my town. My parents didn’t care as long as I was either home for dinner or by the time the street lights came on. and if I wasn’t home for dinner I had to find a phone and call not because my parents would be worried but so they either wouldn’t have to cook as much or set out a plate for me.
It’s 10 pm, do you know where your kids are?
Glad you’re still alive!
Just give them a phone. Then at least they get something they want with it, instead of ugly shoes.
Young children should absolutely not have a phone, unless I suppose it’s completely locked down to chat apps and the tracking I suppose…
My little sister has a phone I set up for her. It has no internet browser, requires permission to download apps, no voicemail, blocks unknown callers, and turns off at 9pm with the exception of contacting family or emergency services.
Phones can be safe for kids if parent just put in the time to learn about parental safety systems and implement them.
More and more governments issue warning about the effects of screens on baby, toddler, and child brain development. The age the Netherlands puts forward now is 14 to have a smartphone, and no screens or very limited until 3 years of age.
How is it different than a TV screen? That was my brainrot when I was growing up.
They issue is less the screen than it is the lack of long-form entertainment. Kids paying attention to an hour and a half movie plot on the screen isn’t the same problem as scrolling through endless 30 second videos or accessing social media.
The TV is also bad, but smartphones are literally slot machines in the child’s pocket that keep giving them dopamine hits. It’s many times worse for the brain.
There are parental controls etc. But the nature of the device is addictive with its notifications and the likes.
Individually targeted and psychologically-optimized content.
Those happen to be the things a child should not be exposed to
Learn to use the tools to protect your kids. iPhones and Android can absolutely be locked down for children. Or just get an apple watch or flip phone. All better than a fucking airtag.
My kids got an apple watch, locked down during school hours, etc.
Better for what purpose? If you’re on holiday in a busy, foreign city, an AirTag for location tracking is much cheaper than this other options.
AirTags rely on being able to piggyback off of other iPhones to report their location. They are not a self-contained device, merely an appliance. If you give your kid a smartwatch with cellular or a full-fledged phone, you can track where they are but also they have the ability to contact you/be contacted if need be. Sure, there are drawbacks to such choices, but that is what being well-informed as a parent is all about.
I swear these are apple guerrilla marketing articles. Air tags in the shoe is so stupidly expensive for the task.
Imo it’s not that it’s expensive, it’s that the kid is going to get an alert that there’s an AirTag following them, and they’re gonna be like “wtf”. Just share your find my location via phone.
