Chris Jones: Green Publishing, Inc.
A new phone application, called Family Time, can help parents monitor the texts and phone calls of their children's phones, and much more. The app helps parents limit the amount of time kids spend on the phone by setting time limits and limited access outside of specific time periods, such as homework time or bedtime. Parents can also use geo-fencing to receive alerts when their children's phones go to locations set by the user. Detailed location history is also available to let parents know where their children have been. Family Time can also block a phone's ability to use other apps, such as Snapchat or Instagram. The app is free and can be downloaded and installed on any smart phone.
An Oklahoma father recently used the app to discover his 15-year-old daughter was having an inappropriate texting relationship with a 33-year-old man. The father was able to see that the man was sending sexually explicit photos to his daughter, and had even planned to visit the young girl at their house in Del City, Ok. Using the girl's phone, the father invited the man over to the house, telling him to enter a tent set up in the back yard. When the man arrived that night, the father and several family members tackled and restrained the man until police could arrive.
“I had to do what was right as a father,” the father told a local news organization, “[He] walked into the wrong backyard.” The man was arrested and charged on complaints of unlawful communication by the use of technology, using a phone and social media to communicate with a minor.