TeenSafe App Stripping Away Teen’s Privacy

A new app for iPhone and Android users allows parents to read texts, view Facebook and Instagram activity, and more on their teen’s phone.

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Lauren Ponzetti, Copy Chief

One of the best things about being a teenager is freedom. Teenagers, although not completely free to make their own decisions, get a taste of freedom with things like getting their permit or license, getting a job and even getting to vote. But how would it be for the one freedom that teens treasure, their privacy, to be taken away from them? A new app available for iPhone and Android users gives parents the ability to view every message sent, received and even deleted from their teens cell phone via text message; any messaging app; Facebook messages; online activity; comments and photos posted; and even Instagram posts, comments, followers; and finally who is following that person on different social accounts.

In an interview with ABC, Ameeta Jain, the creator of TeenSafe, calls it “loving parenting.” She claims that parents pay the phone bill, so shouldn’t they have the right to see what their teen is doing on his/her phone?

Junior Mikayla Christian thinks that teens have a right to privacy, even if it is the parents that pay the bill.

“As a parent, it is your responsibility to provide things for your child, things that they could not provide themselves with on their own. If I could pay my own phone bill, I would, but since I can’t, I should still receive the same amount of privacy and respect. It’s not fair that I’m deprived of the respect that I deserve just because I am a minor,” Christian said.

Many teens agree with Christian’s claim, but how do the adults, and, more importantly, parents, feel about it?

Career and Technology Education teacher and parent of two Laura Tielke said, “It would depend on my child. If I had really good kids that I could trust, I probably wouldn’t [use TeenSafe]. If I had kids that got in trouble a lot, then yes, I would definitely pay the $15 per month fee to use the app. It is absolutely okay for parents to look at what their teens are sending and receiving, who pays the bill?”