Now here is real progress that we all can rally behind. Sharon Standifird, a mother in New York, was tired of having her teenagers ignore her calls. Rather than continuing the usual threats of punishment, Standifird went “all techno” on her kids. She spent months developing an app, “Ignore No More,” that prevents a kid from making any calls until they return the call from their mother (and presumably their father).
Standifird went to work with developers to develop the app which cannot be circumvented because the parent holds the unlock password. (My computer genius teenager insists that he could defeat it, but there was a slight sound of panic in his voice).
Until you call Mom, there is no texting, no gaming, and no calling your friend for the next OMG revelation. Just call Momma.
By the way, there is also an app now that allows parents to receive alerts when their teenagers is driving too fast or when he or she goes into prohibited zones like the neighborhood of that banned boyfriend or the park area where teens drink.
“Ignore No More” is available only for Android phones on Google Play.
Source: CBS
“When I was 16 (26 now), my mother put a gps tracker in my car, I found it, I removed it and stashed it in the bushes by the library” And that would be when the car is permanently parked. Sounds like Ma isn’t the only source of the problem.
“Take the damn phone away” And also lock them in their room. The advantage of the phone is that it provides some ability to keep track of kids without also keeping them locked up. Better this app and a phone than letting them out without one.
Modding this now so I can receive unlock ransom through “900” callback… Thanks Mom!
for the naysayers your thoughts and reasons for not having your kids install the app will come back to haunt you if you should get that knock at the door one day.or if your kid should disappear for no reason. for those who are in a power struggle with their mothers. it will haunt you even more. especially since its always been said the hurt you visit on your parents will come back to you thru your own kids and the hurt and disrespect will be twice fold. i dont care who you are if not for your mother you wouldnt be here to give or have the nasty attitude that you do. and even though most girls love their daddys they usually turn out to be just like the mother hence the power struggle.
ive heard a few therapist say the power struggle between mother and daughter stems from daddy. they are fighting to both be the love of daddys life. etc not sure how true it is but ive seen it play out a time or two. so glad my kids were all just about grown when the phone addiction hit the world. as for my 11 yr old i dont need to keep tabs on her her siblings keep her on lock and between sibling, godsiblings and cousins she doesnt stand a chance with or without a phone. and just like her olders she will not get one until she is 16-17 depending on her school grades
A necessary evil… Kid will just get a burner phone….
slohrss: There are kids for which that is true. There are also kids for which calling their mother is like putting a power drill to their temple. I fall into the latter camp.
I can almost guarantee that if your mother is the type to use this app, you just plain do not want to talk to her. Parents that resort to this kind of thing like to say it’s out of love and concern, and that’s a lie. It’s about control. Human beings don’t take kindly to being controlled, and tracking a person is dehumanizing, and kids are human beings, whether or not you want to acknowledge it.
I freely admit that my mother and I have issues. She says I’m an unloving bitch (Happy Thanksgiving to you too Ma), I say she’s an obnoxious, interfering, shrew. At this point I don’t care who’s right, I just know that I’m less inclined to curl into a little ball and cry in the dark when I avoid her, and that’s enough for me.
When I was 16 (26 now), my mother put a gps tracker in my car, I found it, I removed it and stashed it in the bushes by the library. She tracked my phone, I shoved it under the couch and bought a prepaid. My point is, if you’re having trouble getting your kid to call, an app like this is not solving the problem, it’s starting a war.
I certainly like the idea, but I am sure the kids can get by it in 15 mins or one of their friends can. I agree with david, you need the cell phone to keep in contact with the family. My wife has a bad habit of wandering away or falling behind when we are shopping and I regularly lose her. Both of us having a cell phone has dropped my stress level a great deal. I have a smart phone and a smart watch. And everything is synced to my tablet and desktop.
I think Liz means it would just become a technical challenge for a kid. Kids will be kids. I just happen not to be very lenient.
Liz W is right to a point. I have a better app. My soon to be 15 year old son uses it coordinate band, cycling, and travel. If he doesn’t return a call, I have a 16oz. ball peen hammer that is a conclusive fix.
Off the top of my head: reset the phone to factory settings, don’t download the app again. Done. Sure you’d have to backup your contacts ect, but I’d rather do that daily than talk to my mother (this goes for present me as well). There will be an easier 2-4 step solution for killing that app published on social media inside of a week. Develop it for iOS and you’ll have something, but trying it on Android is a joke.
Don’t try to out tech kids, you’re playing in their stadium, and you barely understand the rules to the game. You will lose.
Liz, you would rather restore your phone daily than talk to your mother? Seriously? Is the problem for that with you or with your mother?
@davidm2575 “I guess it is partly because we keep removing the Ten Commandments monuments from public display, so nobody really understands that commandment anymore about honoring your mother and father.”
If you want your children to know the ten commandments, you need to teach it in your home and not rely on the government to do your parenting for you.
This app should be great for suffocating tiger moms/dads and helicopter moms/dads. If a parent is paying for the phone and the kid is not using it according to the rules set out by the parents, just take the phone away. If the kid is too big to physically take the phone, cut off the service.
This 24/7 attached at the hip parenting is ruining an entire generation. Just ask any college administrator or professor.
I’d love to hear Jonathan’s thoughts on the life skills of his students now compared to when he started teaching. By law school, I would hope the students’ lack of independence wouldn’t be a bad as it is for college students.
Simms wrote: “If you want your children to know the ten commandments, you need to teach it in your home and not rely on the government to do your parenting for you.”
Whatever happened to Hillary Clinton’s idea that it takes a village to raise a child?
There is harmony in society when society agrees upon certain standards of morality, such as instructing children not to steal, not to lie, and not to commit murder. Whether you like it or not, the Ten Commandments were part of established civil law for longer than our own government has been in existence. Our own legal system borrows from the Jewish legal system and attempts to improve upon it.
Darren wrote: “I don’t see why a 15 year old needs a cellphone to begin with.”
I have found the cell phone greatly helps coordinate communication with your children. One child needs to be picked up from school and taken to violin lessons, another needs to be taken to gymnastics class, another one has band practice. Or my daughter forgets her lunch or her musical instrument, so she texts me while on the bus and I can bring it to the school. With five children, it would be much more difficult without a phone where I can text or call and say, “I’m at the side of the school now” or “where are you, I’ve been waiting five minutes” or “I’m running five minutes late. Will be there soon,” etc. I also consider it a safety issue that my child can call me anytime for any reason. I tell my children if you are ever in a situation where you are uncomfortable or scared, just call me and I will come pick you up immediately.
What this app indicates is how sad it is that our society no longer teaches children to respect their parents enough to return phone calls. I guess it is partly because we keep removing the Ten Commandments monuments from public display, so nobody really understands that commandment anymore about honoring your mother and father.
I’m still waiting for the App that shuts kids phones off, while driving in a car….
The app does not deactivate the ability to call 911. I saw a piece on CNN about this a couple days ago.
She is quite the evolved Mom (computer science!).
Even viruses and microbes use wireless communication (On the Origin of the Genes of Viruses – 11).
Creativeness is quite ancient.
hope the kid doesn’t need to call 911
Simple 21st century patenting, trouble now that I’m 51 my mom would still want to sneak the app onto my phone. I think I preferred growing up back in “the day” when my patents had no idea where I was or how to get hold of me unless I called them (hopefully not after booking) from a payphone.
They trusted me (silly parents) but I learned self reliance at the same time knowing nobody was coming to get me.
They ‘re addicted. Take away the phone and they have withdrawal symptoms, and they start convulsiing and foaming at the mouth.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
I have a simple low-tech solution…
Take the damn phone away
I don’t see why a 15 year old needs a cellphone to begin with. Maybe if they spent less time twiddling their thumbs with instant messages or tweeting what they had for breakfast and all other mediocre trivialities they might actually start looking around and seeing life for what it is, not plugged in to this instantly gratifying form of permanent entertainment.