watchOS 7: How to Eliminate Distractions Using Schooltime on Apple Watch

The Family Setup segment in the presentation this week was hella creepy, and rather tonedeaf for a company that touts privacy.

Particularly these two actual quotes:


* “you can specify which contacts your kids can communicate with"
* "you can set up automatic location notifications, so you’ll get the reassurance your child is exactly where they’re supposed to be”


A Tile tracker for human beings, or something.

They could've introduced this in a far more nuanced way that emphasizes privacy, but they chose to ignore that aspect entirely, which is a real shame.

What if the kid is queer, and the parent is bigoted? What if the kid has a secret s/o, and the parent is abusive? What if the kid is going to an abortion clinic? Or to a psychotherapist?

Lots of problems, there. Genuinely useful use cases, too, yes, but the strong implication in the presentation was that the child's consent doesn't matter.

Clearly, this is meant for children too young to own a phone, according to parental judgement. So they can communicate with them and locate them in an emergency.

As a father, this will solve many problems at once in my near future.

Clearly, this is meant for children too young to own a phone, according to parental judgement. So they can communicate with them and locate them in an emergency.

As a father, this will solve many problems at once in my near future.

I agree with you, this can be a gateway device that accomplishes many of the same things as a phone without being a phone with all its associated problems of cost, distraction, potential for abuse, and ease to lose. Same reason parents put elastic on gloves through the sleeves.. kids put things down and lose them all the time. This is the first step in teaching them some responsibility and increasing their safety. Non parents won't get it.

This sounds like every helicopter parent's ultra-mega fetish.

While I'm sure this tech has good intentions, I do worry about how much this can be used to "control" people. I'm sure there's nothing to stop an abusive partner from doing this on their significant other.

Uh... ok. Just because some may have nefarious motives, doesn't mean the rest of us do.

Control freaks comes to my mind.

Giving small children (or really older children) uncontrolled access to a pocket computer is not at the top of most parents' list of things to do. This helps bring some of the features parents want a phone for their kid for, without the internet/apps.

Really sad to see the Series 3 was not supported.

Sure? I don’t think their intro did a good job explaining that.

With all due respect to you, I'm not trying to be condescending, I'm genuinely interested in how you seem to be comprehending what was shown, so please fire away.

Did you watch the video? It literally shows children in the video and the script is (AS YOU POSTED),
"Family Setup enables greater independence for your kids or older parents, you can specify which contacts your kids can communicate with, so whether it's grandma's house, school or baseball practice... you'll get the reassurance your child is exactly where you expect them to be"

To me the definition of a kid/child is
"a young human being below the age of puberty"

So to me, mentioning abortion clinics, and them being queer or seeing a s/o is ridiculous.
None of these things should be happening without the parent being 100% aware, as these are children.

I really feel you are mixing up what a child/kid is.
If a child/teenager needs to see a councillor regarding their abusive parent, they can do so at school. (Schools here offer those services)
If a teenager wants to have a secret life and visit their queer lover, well they should be smart enough to remove/forget the watch, meet up in a public place where you could easily fib on who you where with? Or better yet, be open with their parents? If they can't then seek help if the parents are abusive (there's plenty of social services for this, at least in the 1st world countries).

Apple didn’t communicate this well.

How do you feel Apple could have communicated this in a better light?
"You no longer have to worry if your kids got kidnapped, hit by a bus or stabbed to death, as can now track them to make sure they got to training/grandma's safely! - FYI, I'm having a laugh with this comment.

As for homeschooling, yeah, that’s fortunately illegal here.

I wasn't homeschooled, but I know two people that had been. They turned out fine, in fact they are both highly successful and are very well educated. Why are you happy that home schooling is illegal in your area?

You lived no secret life at all as a teen? That’s… unusual, to say the least.

From my personal childhood and majority of my friends, I don't think many people at all lived a "secret life".
Sure we have all kept things from our parents, "I'm going to sleep over at Jason's house" (really went out to a party with alcohol ?). "Yes I went to training" (really went to the shops). Most people do this stuff when they are in the later years of being a teenager, not a child.

But again, it's the odd thing you did on the sly and usually got caught and disciplined for. I wouldn't call that a "secret life". Perhaps you are implying that if a teenager has their watch tracked all the way up to legal age, this stops them from doing such things. And if so, fair point. I'd put that on having over zealous parents who are trying too hard to control their offsprings every move. To me, this is worse than a teenager thinking they know best, messing up and learning a life lesson.

what

I hope I've shed some light on my thoughts with above, however to explain the quote.
It's tracking a childs location to make sure they are safe and not skipping school. It's not unreasonable for a parent to want to have this insight. It's not child abuse.

Of course they should, because they’re selling themselves as privacy-conscious. You can’t have it both ways. Unless they’re saying privacy is only for 18 and up?

Jesus man, you have some "interesting" views.
While a parent should give their child some privacy/personal space, a good parents job is to know what their child is up to. Apple is about keeping corporations off your data to protect your adult privacy.
Apple are not trying to advocate children's rights and privacy from their parents.

Of course they should, because they’re selling themselves as privacy-conscious. You can’t have it both ways. Unless they’re saying privacy is only for 18 and up?

Apple tries to deliver on privacy from the government, privacy from Apple, privacy from advertisers, I don't think they suggest they are providing privacy from parents. It is a parent's responsibility to know where their children are. If they don't the kids get taken away from them. Apple is providing a means for children to communicate with their parents and vice versa. This is a good thing. If anything, this might very well lead to children having more freedom because their parents can worry less that their child gets lost and in trouble. It is a safety net. (sorry found something else to say lol)