Technology and the internet is a key part of a child or teenagers’ life. It is hard to find a teenager who doesn’t use or own their own mobile phone. With this new connection to everything and anything, this brings concerns for parents and teens. Parents want to be in control of what their child views and what they are exposed to, but is monitoring their online activity invading their privacy, or is it just protective parenting?

Protection and not trusting a child are two different things. Children do not know any better, so blocking or putting restrictions on a child’s device could be seen as protection. Monitoring teenager’s internet activities, however, is seen more as not trusting them. Teenagers feel that at that age they can make their own decisions because they know more compared to a child. I believe that teenagers’ internet access should not be restricted or monitored unless they break their parents’ trust. Monitoring an older child’s internet activities shows that you do not trust them enough to make the right decisions, and it is also invading their privacy. Invading teens’ privacy won’t make them a better and more cautious person; it only leads them to hide more things from their parents and going further in the ways that they hide things from them.

In a way, monitoring a teenager’s internet usage will end up hurting them more than helping them in the long run. It would only make them more sneaky. Telling a teenager “no” is only going to make them want to do it more.