Here’s Why Kids Simply Detest Parental Control Apps

When you seek help from a parental control app like ShieldMyTeen, you are basically looking to ensure the safety of your kids from online threats. However, kids don’t understand that and act out upon getting informed that you’re deploying such an app on their cell phone and would be keeping an eye on their mobile communications, web history, whereabouts, etc. They immediately develop a strong disliking for parental control apps, something that you shouldn’t really be concerned about because it’s a rather natural response on their part. They have very little tolerance for such tools due to several reasons, some of which we’ve outlined below.

Privacy Invasion

Privacy is extremely dear to kids, which is completely understandable. Many things they say or do on their cell phones is not likely to do down too well with the elders, be it their parents, elder siblings, or someone else. Cell phones are also perceived by youngsters as a personal space that they rule. When you install a parental control app on their mobile device, you’re effectively stripping them of their privacy and breaching their personal space. With you having access to their SMS conversations, online activities, location information, etc., they feel like they’ve got no breathing space. This also raises their sense of vulnerability as they fear that you might deem something they said, saw, or did inappropriate, and then scold them. All this adds up to fill them up with frustration and causes them to simply loathe parental control apps. They don’t care about your noble intentions. All they care about and crave for is privacy, which your darling tech allegedly shreds into tiny pieces.

Stripped of Freedom

Parental controls enable you to block any content that you think can be harmful for your kids, be it a website or an app. You obviously want to look out for your kids, so you block the stuff that can be detrimental to their mental or physical well-being. Sometimes you may even decide to block perfectly harmless apps and websites, mainly to discourage your kids from wasting too much time on them, and instead get them to focus on other important things like homework. Kids don’t like it when you do that no matter what your reasons are, and start blaming parental control apps for tightening the noose around their freedom. They demand autonomy as far as their personal cell phone is concerned, conveniently forgetting that technically you’re the owner of the mobile device they’re holding and therefore have the right to make decisions regarding it. Your kids may forgive you for taking away their freedom, eventually, but parental control apps continue to face their wrath for a long time.

Recording of Digital Tracks

Kids absolutely despise the fact that parental control apps give parents access to their browsing history. They want to visit all sorts of websites, but when they know that parents are looking through the app, they back down. Being young and naïve, they don’t realize the harm inappropriate websites, especially those dedicated to pornographic content, are capable of inflicting. To them, such content is exciting and thus they want unrestricted access to them. Any hindrance in the way is seen as an unnecessary inconvenience. And since it’s parental control apps that are normally blocking their path, they find them detestable.