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."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.
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?
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.
I would rather not
“surveillance-minded parents”… Are they trying to put a negative spin on it?
Knowing where your underage kid is is a must these days. Lots of crazy people out there.
uh, statistically there are less crazy mfs than there were 30 years ago. we just weren’t hyper connected. so yes, I would hope they’re putting a negative spin on it. Fuck sake, my sister wouldn’t let her 16 year old boys walk to the end of the cul-de-sac for fear of them being kidnapped. This shit is so god-damned stupid.
These days they have phones on them. Imagine raising a kid in the 90s or earlier.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
Some shoes even already had compartments in them and came with a toy car that fit in there
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!
The peak of evolved kids shoes are those with wheels on the heels (“Heelys”)
Bonus points if they had the hard plastic instep so you could grind with them like Soaps.
Cool now strangers can track them without effort.
Can you register a random AirTag?
I’m pretty sure you can’t track them through the network. You can’t say “track this air tag wherever it goes”.
But you could use a device to track the signal the air tag emits as long as you’re in range.
If not, then cool, your parents can give that info to your creepy uncle Steve. He’s just gonna pick you up from school one day. Better hope he doesn’t bring his white van.
“Can”? Were they physically unable to before?
It is likely more that they are designed to have AirTags with special compartments.
As if kids won’t suss that out in two heartbeats.
Depends on their age. I have young kids and love in the inner city. These would be handy but you’d need it in every shoe or it’s pointless.
For mine kid(if I would have them) I would tell them to have those tracks, but only with a deal to not use it against kid. Like kid skipped a school and I will can’t use that track info as a proof to punish kid. So, only use it as a real safety of kid, not as spying it
I used to voluntarily share my location with my dad for “safety”. He ended up texting me his McDonald’s orders anytime I was within proximity of a McDonald’s.
Nope.
That’s spying, not safety
The latter is used to justify the former.
That’s kind of dumb.
Depends on the age. For a 3-5 year old prone to sneaking out on adventures it could be useful.
Just one problem: Mine tended to attempt their escape barefoot.
Exactly, for toddlers/children this can prove to be useful. This is not a product for older children or even teens, like it is assumed to be.
The shoe in the screenshotted video looks sized for an older kid, though.
Put a tag on their ear, I know some biologists that can hook you up
I would actually live to see some sort of comedy sketch do this with one of those giant radio collars from the 1970s lol
My friend who has a non-white son is considering something like this just in case an ICE kidnapping happens.
A bit of a cynical take, but it wouldn’t surprise me if ICE started throwing away shoes and phones onto the roadside.
It’s only a matter of time before they start building piles of children’s shoes
Oh absolutely
Wouldn’t that make it easier to figure out where it happened
Sure, but knowing ICE took your kid doesn’t really do much to help get them back.
ICE is now an extrajudicial secret police with even less oversight than the actual police. Even if someone knows ICE kidnapped their relative, nobody in the current administration is going to hold them accountable if they decide to lie and say “no we didn’t”. It took months to get back Abrego Garcia, and that was with the public eye on the situation and the entire Democratic Party pressuring them. For every one Abrego Garcia, there are thousands of people who are still unjustly locked up in a concentration camp.
