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App Gives Parents Access To Their Children's Cyber Life

olarte.ollie
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Flickr Creative Commons

Parents want to know what their kids are up to, but they don’t always have access to their children’s cyber lives.

There's an app for that.

Digital monitoring apps like TeenSafe give parents unfiltered access to their kid’s digital world.

TeenSafe CEO Rawdon Messenger says his app and others like it are recommended for parents who want to monitor their children’s digital activities.

The app, which works on most tablets and cellphones, tracks location and allows parent to view texts, deleted texts and social media sites. 

Messenger says his company recommends parents tell their children that the app has been installed, but he says some parents prefer to do their sleuthing discreetly.

And since the app is invisible, most kids wouldn’t know their parents were monitoring their activities.

"You’ve got to respect your child’s privacy, but their is a tricky balance where protection should trump privacy," he says.

Messenger says the TeenSafe app has uncovered bullying, suicidal tendencies, sexting and other things kids don’t want to talk to their parent about.

He says it’s important that parents can intervene in those situations. But he adds digital monitoring shouldn’t replace those face-to-face dinner conversations.

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