The Undercover Parent Coben Analysis

“If you have to spy on your kids, something’s wrong,” says Michael Brody, a child psychiatrist. Is Juvenoia, the fear that the Internet is causing negative effect on children, really necessary? Many adults these days are concerned of teen safety on the Internet, thus proclaiming that monitoring usage of the Internet would benefit both the child and the parent. In the article, “The Undercover Parent”, Harlan Coben explains how all parents should use spyware on their teen’s devices to monitor Internet usage. After an extensive amount of research, I disagree with Coben’s claim. Spyware is not only unnecessary, but also expresses the message: “I don’t trust you.”

The title of the essay is The Undercover Parents, which was written by Harlan Coben. The essay was published on the 16th of March, 2008. In the essay, Coben presents his main ideas and thoughts regarding the use of spyware by parents to monitor children. He says that installing a spyware on the computer used by children, especially those in the teenage years, can help parents track what actually their children view on computers. In the essay, the author says that while it is quite hard to follow up on children while they are away from home and this causes parents to be so worried, installing spyware on the computers in the house really helps. Coben says that the program allows parents to keep track of the children

Today, the Internet has an important impact on our daily lives. We use it for communication, research, etc. Unfortunately sometimes the Internet can be a dangerous place and we have to be cautious when using it. We do not have as much privacy as we used to have 30 or 40 years ago. The article “The Undercover Parent”, discusses the issue of whether or not parents should put spyware on their child’s computer to monitor everything that they are doing.

Harlen Coben in an editorial titled “The Undercover Parent” (March 16, 2008) claims that parents should have conversations about their concerns with teens, and let them know how spyware is a possibility.Should parents of teens and tweens go undercover? Harlen Coben, the author is trying to make parents have conversations with their teens and tween about internet safety, and let them know if spyware is a possibility. I agree but in some opinions i disagree with Coben and his prediction. If you put spyware on your computer, you have the ability to log every keystroke your child makes and thus a good portion of his or her private world. That’s what spyware is at least the parental monitoring kind. You don’t have to be an expert to put it on your computer.

Facebook, Snapchat, Kik, Twitter, Instagram, and gaming sites are all good until something bad happens. Author Harlan Coben writer of “The Undercover Parent”, believes parents should monitor their children's software. Even though children find software useful, parents should monitor their kids software because children can be cyber bullied. Children can also be in danger of pedophiles .

Coben states that parents should put spyware on their kids computers, but shouldn’t be nosey and be completely responsible look for anything hazardous. However I disagree and believe teenagers should be trusted with online responsibilities. One reason for this is a third party (the vendor) makes a record of what you do ,but the author did not make note this or did not even know which in my opinion is worst than a faceless bureaucrat because that third is likely to release it to other parties such as google or other big corporations.

In his essay, “The Undercover Parent,” Harlan Coben argues in the favor of the use of parental spyware on children’s computers. Coben’s claim for his argument is that by installing the spyware unto a child’s computer, you have the ability to log every keystroke your child makes and thus be better equipped to protect your child from harmful situations. Coben acknowledges parent’s hesitation and repulsion of spyware, and clearly defines for his audience what spyware is exactly and how it operates. The author reminds his audience with logical appeals that most parents do already monitor their children’s day to day lives, and that spyware simply offers a new way of protection. Coben then lists his audience’s common counter arguments such as simply

Coben also has had experiences with spyware. He states in his article how his friend found out that his daughter was using drugs and was sleeping with her dealer using spyware. He was able to avoid a problem escalating further by using spyware to figure out what his daughter was up to. He also talks about how today’s parents, “ fight kid’s battles on the playground, berate coaches about playing time and fill out college applications- yet when it comes to chatting with pedophiles or watching beheadings or gambling away their entire life savings, then… then their children deserve independence?” He is basically saying how today’s parents are so overprotective in the real world, but yet they don’t care at all what their kids do online. Also, Coben gives examples of the girl who was cyber bullied to the point where she committed suicide and of the boy who unknowingly was conversing with a pedophile online. He believes a watchful eye would have helped. If the parents of that girl would have kept an eye on their child’s internet use maybe they could have saved their daughters

In this essay, Coben is telling parents to put spyware on their children's computers so that they can monitor their child's use of online sites. He says that parents should be able to know what is going on in their children's lives, and that bad situations can be avoided by monitoring what children are doing online. First of all, Parents should trust their kids if they’re old enough. Coben says, “ If he’s old enough to go on the internet, he is old enough to know the dangers” (paragraph 6) . As a teen I know how to keep myself safe and i know most apparent hazards. I’m not saying i know every single thing but i know not to fall for obvious scams and schemes. For all the other teens, yes, they do know right from wrong. The only problem is they still take irresponsible choices.

When reading Harlan Coben’s article, “The Undercover Parent”, I learned about spyware and it’s advantages and uses. Today, a majority of teens use technology on a daily basis. In fact, a study by CNN said that the average teens spends a “mind-boggling” 9 hours a day using media.

”Now after doing a fair amount of research I get it”.(Coben 1) .I wouldn't want my child to talk to a stranger that could be a pedophile. So I would use spyware. “Second, everything your child types can already be seen by the world - teachers, potential employers, friends, neighbors, future dates.Shouldn't he/she learn now that the internet is not a haven of privacy (Coben 1).

Although the Internet can be a location of bountiful resources, the scene mentioned above can be common if no supervision is involved. A controversial method of guarding over children online is Spyware, a program downloaded to track all ways an electronic device is being used. Harlan Coben, an author for Nytimes.com , wrote an article in favor of Spyware and how it is necessary in order to keep children safe while using the Internet. Coben’s stance is incredibly correct and Spyware should be used to protect kids from online dangers.

Do you have children? Do they use the internet? Do you know what they're doing on the internet? They could be doing homework, or they could be talking to a pedophile. How can you protect your child? Harlan Coben wrote an article with his solution to this problem: spyware. However, I don't agree with this, there are other, better ways to protect your child. Still don't believe me? Well listen to this.

President Roosevelt once mentioned “we cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future” (1 Roosevelt). Indeed, parents cannot always provide the optimal environment for their children; however, parents can empower children to become prepared and civilized adults. Coben asserts in The Undercover Parent that computer spyware allows parents to protect their children from potential dangers of the web. In his writing, Coben establishes a boundary between parental concern and irresponsible meddling to address concerns regarding online privacy. He explicitly states it is a parent’s duty to be the “safety net” of their children, where spyware is an indispensable connection to the wired world of adolescents

Secondly, Coben believes that spyware can prevent children from chatting with pedophiles on the internet. I agree this could help in reducing that number if parents are able to see ahead of time, but Coben doesn’t take into consideration there are other ways for this to be done. For instance, Coben says, “But text messages and cellphones don’t offer the anonymity and danger of the Internet. They are usually one-on-one with someone you know. It is far easier for a predator to troll chat rooms and Myspace and Facebook.” This statement is not entirely true. Cell phones are the primary way of communicating in today’s generation especially text messages. There are applications that people can download and use right on their phone, and never even have to log onto their computer.