They put microchips in their employees. Now this company is helping parents track their children -- The Washington Post

Likely to be a popular holiday gift wish list item: smartphone Faraday bags. If you're an iPhone user, incidentally, you can already use geofence settings with the Find my Friends app. On a related note, see Does Our Cultural Obsession With Safety Spell the Downfall of Democracy? (NYT)

"Unlike microchips, with which Three Square Market is often associated, its Mom I Am Ok app does not rely on planting technology inside a user’s body. Instead, the app is wholly dependent on GPS in the user’s smartphone. If a user is separated from the device they can no longer be effectively tracked.

Lisa Damour, a psychologist and child development expert who writes a monthly column about adolescence for the New York Times, disputed the notion that the world is increasingly unsafe. But despite a national drop in violent crime, she said, surveys reveal that many adults feel less safe today than they did a decade ago.

At the same time, she said, mental health professionals have seen a spike among parents and children self-reporting feelings of anxiety in recent years.

Asked to comment on the Mom I Am Ok app, Damour said she thinks there is “a very high chance” that technology designed to reduce anxiety actually inflames feelings of unease in parents and children."

They put microchips in their employees. Now this company is helping parents track their children -- The Washington Post