Is microchipping our children a thing of the future?
Wouldn’t it be great if kids could rediscover some of the freedom that they had in decades past – without parents having to worry about where they were?
As any parent whose child has wandered off for even a split second will know, the fear is like nothing on earth – but children’s loss of freedom has hardly been a healthy development either. Child-tracking technology might just be the answer to the conundrum – and New York security company BrickHouse reports that it’s in demand more and more.
We’re not talking about microchipping like you do a dog (not yet, anyway) – but a GPS tracker that can be fastened to a child’s belt is proving popular with the company’s customers. Another option is a toddler tag which clips onto a bag, shoe or piece of clothing and alerts the parent’s corresponding device if the child wanders more than 30 feet away.
CEO Todd Morris says the products have proven particularly attractive to parents of children with special needs, such as autism – more than half of children with autism are “wanderers”, according to a 2012 study by the US advocacy group Autism Speaks. Another US brand, Independence Day Clothing, sells garments designed for children with autism; among other features, they come with hidden compartments for storing GPS trackers, as autistic children may be uncomfortable wearing objects like watches or bracelets.
If your child has a mobile phone, another option is to download an app onto it which will keep track of where they are – some include a panic button the child can press if they are in trouble.
It’s possible, even, that in the not-too-distant future, actual microchipping will become a thing. Kevin Warwick, a professor of cybernetics at Reading University, started researching the possibility as far back as 1998 when he implanted a chip into his arm to see if his computer could track his movement within the university building. According to the Techworld website, he later recounted: “As I walked around the computer knew it was me so it switched the lights on, and when I went towards the laboratory the door opened automatically. There was a telephone in the front door; it said ‘Hello Professor Warwick.’ It was tremendous fun.”
However, it raises another scary question: if you can track your child, what’s to say someone else can’t do the same?
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