I will keep this brief as my writing retreat ends Thursday morning, and it is just flying by. However, someone at CBS News pointed me to this story and thought FRL’s readers would like it. I’m quite flattered, but also mystified by the association. FRL + teens + GPS? Though perhaps it’s because this blog has been accused of being all over the map. (Get it? GPS? Map? Nyuck, nyuck!)
Anyway, this is an interesting story that will no doubt push someone’s buttons in LibraryLand, and I did have an uneasy Cool River vibe when I watched the segment. But I spent two years as a records clerk in San Francisco Juvenile Court — this was 1977-1979 — where every morning we dealt with parents frantically seeking their truant children — kids who were mostly on course to bad adulthoods. I would rather see kids monitored by GPS then end up with ruined lives.
The problem becomes when that’s the solution for good kids… and then misbehaving adults… and then all of us. We’re tethered enough in life — how soon until we are all chipped? (In my case, some might say, “Not soon enough!”)
I will say having a GPS has made this leg of the vacation absolutely painless. If only airline baggage tracking were that precise!
Posted on this day, other years:
- ALA 2010 Preliminary Schedule - 2010
- Announcing Twitterprose - 2007
- ALA's Conference Planner - 2006
- Comments and Surveys and Eli, Oh My! - 2005
- Who Drugged ALA? - 2004
- Boo Effin' Hoo - 2004
