I didn't know my daughters could see my location

"Mom, why r u not at yoga?" my 19-year-old Annie texted, and I realized what she'd discovered: my location. I hadn't had a smartphone when my children were teens and preferred that they tell me where they were going. They usually came home by curfew and paid their bills; I wanted to parent without constantly tracking them.

When our landline proved too costly I bought the cheapest iPhone the salesperson called "an iPhone for old people." My older daughter Maya set it up at the black-box store, and I handed over my passwords. Later I learned that when a T‑Mobile rep asked for my emergency contact, Maya realized she could monitor my movements and began tracking me on the D‑L while she left for two years in the Peace Corps.

She even shared my location with Annie so both daughters could keep an eye on me. We laughed at first and then talked about the trade-offs of digital shadowing.

daughters, location, iphone, t-mobile, location sharing, tracking, passwords, emergency contact, landline, peace corps