[jefftk]

A lot of these tools depend a lot on the age of the kid and how they're used.

I have five year old, and they're nearly to the point where they could go the the park by themself if they had some sort of device where (a) we could tell where they were and (b) they could easily contact us plus (c) it was socially acceptable to do this. This would be using tracking to allow our kid more freedom, since the alternatives are (1) go to the park on our schedule and under full supervision and (2) stay home.

As kids get older we would want to pull back that kind of supervision, so that by the time they're 12 or so we can get their location with something active and visible to them, and by the time they're 15 or so we can just call or text them.

The technology can be used in a lot of ways, and whether it makes kids more or less free depends on parenting and culture.