Parenting has become advanced surveillance

danah boyd, in her response to the NY Times article about parents attempting to keep up with their kids and start texting (inexplicably placed in the Sunday Business section - maybe that is why I forgot to post about it?), made this great general statement about parenting today. I just had to pass it on:

Over the years, parenting has become more and more about surveillance. In this mindset, good parents are those who stalk their kids. Parents complain that their children ignore them when they're in the same space, preferring their friends. When was this not the case? What's different now is that there are fewer siblings/cousins running around to team up with. There's less free time to just "hang out." There's no openness to go out after school and "be home by dark" (a practice that used to start in early childhood). With activities and scheduling and this and that, I'm always amazed that children don't demand more time for friend time.

There's an arms race going on: parental surveillance vs. technology to assert privacy.

I am definitely going to "steal" this one (with credit, I promise!).