GPS全面監控 父母無所不在

Parents, Parents Everywhere Thanks to GPS

不讓孩子離開視線範圍的「直升機父母」，彷彿永遠在孩子上空盤旋。現在，他們借助最新監視科技，也就是所謂的「黑色直升機父母」，即使不在孩子身邊，也能全面監控孩子的一舉一動。

Helicopter parents who never let their children out of their sight seem always to be hovering over them. And now the latest ‘black-helicopter’ technology allows them to track their children’s every movement even when they are nowhere near their side.

華盛頓郵報指出，某些美國父母已經開始用具備全球定位系統（GPS）的手機瞭解孩子行蹤。一家公司看準直升機父母的需求，最近推出名為「銀翼殺手」（Bladerunner）、內含衛星定位裝置的夾克。這種夾克一件要價五百美元，追蹤孩子位置的連線「月租費」要二十美元。這套系統利用電子郵件或手機簡訊告知爸媽孩子所在位置。家長若設定「虛擬範圍」，孩子一踏出設定的行動區域，系統就會警告家長。

The Washington Post reports that some American parents are using cellphones with GPS devices to keep track of their children. One company with helicopter parents in their sights has recently launched the “Bladerunner”, a $500jacket fitted with a GPS device that can track a child all day long - for a $20 per month connection fee that notifies parents of a child’s location by email or a cellphone signal. Parents can even set up a “virtual zone” that sends a signal whenever a child steps out of it.

哈佛大學伯克曼網路暨社會中心研究員波伊表示，現代社會的「恐懼文化」，讓父母深深覺得，不監視子女的家長，就是差勁的家長，顯然偷窺子女已經成為父母的工作之一。麻省理工學院教授托克爾把那些被家長監視的孩子稱為「被繩子拴住的青少年」。她說，總有父母想掌控孩子的行蹤，但孩子若沒有獨立自主的機會，就將失去做決定的能力。

According to researcher Danah Boyd at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, modern society’s “culture of fear” makes parents believe that if they are not monitoring their child, they are bad parents, so spying on kids has now become another parental chore. MIT’s Sherry Turkle calls these children forever under their parents’ eyes “tethered adolescents”, and observes that when parents are always controlling their children's movements, the youngsters have no chances to be independent and thus lose the ability to make decisions.

“The black helicopters are arriving anymoment.”     symbol of secretive, covert, probably

“There were black helicopters around all summer.”   illegal gov’t surveillance

“conspiracy theoriest”

to step out of the line = to misbehave = to violate a rule

“They’ve got you in their sights.”  “I’ve got you in my sights – don’t move!” 準星,瞄準孔

I’ve traced his whereabouts. --> don’t know where he is

I’m tracking his movements. --> know where he is, and follow him

Use tracking number to trace his whereabouts.