Mother tracks university son via Snap Map, raising questions about tech-driven surveillance

In a recent opinion piece, journalist Annie Hayes recounted using Snapchat’s Snap Map to trace her 19-year-old son’s routine during his first week at university, watching his avatar move between pubs and his dorm before waking him with a call. She claims this “phone-following” is common among middle-aged, middle-class parents, citing friends who monitor adult children’s late-night outings. The article broadens the focus to the design of location-tracking tools and consumer gadgets such as Qustodio, Ring doorbells, Google Photos prompts, and Meta’s smart glasses, which encourage pervasive surveillance.

Citing Shoshana Zuboff’s critique of surveillance capitalism, Hayes warns that converting everyday behaviour into data enables greater corporate control. She concludes that both the mother’s actions and the expanding tech ecosystem illustrate a creeping erosion of privacy in what used to be private life.