This fall I’m teaching a college class on privacy and surveillance , and a few weeks ago I polled around 70 students about whether they use location trackers with family or friends. The majority said they do. During the discussion that followed, some of my students expressed surprise when I disclosed that I don’t track my sons’ locations. Others argued that I should start. “What happens if one of them doesn’t come home and it’s late?” one young woman asked. “Then I would worry,” I said. She did not seem satisfied by this answer.

After several decades of helicopter parenting , it would appear that young people have begun to helicopter parent themselves and each other. Just like their parents before them, their vigilance is suffused with anxiety . Meanwhile, it’s harder than ever for

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