In this day and age of digital communication, one of the easiest ways for teenagers to manifest this rebelliousness is to ignore the texts and calls of their parents.
It’s an outgrowth of the teen getting too embarrassed to be seen by friends kissing mom goodbye just before boarding the school bus. In short, anything to do with the parents is just not cool so it’s easier to just ignore them on the phone.
However, one dad got fed up with his son ignoring his texts that he actually created an app that “hijacks” his son’s phone until he responds. And that’s why it’s not a good idea to tick off a parent who’s tech-savvy.
Watch the video to find out more about this app.
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Video credit: Rumble
Nick Herbert, from Bromley, southeast London, says he was frustrated with his son Ben because his texts were always ignored so the project manager created RespondASAP, an app that takes over the 15-year-old’s phone and doesn’t let go until he reads the message.
When the app is active, an alarm sounds even if the phone is on silent mode. It only deactivates when the message is read, in which case a “ping” is sent back to the parent to let them know that the child has seen the text.
Since he launched the app, Herbert says it has been downloaded more than 2,500 times.
The 47-year-old father-of-one said: “I came up with the idea when Ben went to secondary school. I was getting frustrated that Ben wouldn’t respond to my texts, and was swiping them off to the side while he watched videos or keeping his phone on silent.
“So I decided to go about building an app that would allow me to momentarily ‘take over’ his phone when I sent texts that needed urgent answers.”
After having a talk with his son, Herbert realized that it should go both ways. So now, the app has a “two-way” system wherein the parent and child agree to send urgent messages “provided neither abuses the privilege.”
And any fears Ben may have had about consent were soon allayed since neither of them send “loads of messages through RespondASAP all the time.”
“To start with, Ben agreed to do it because he never imagined I’d go through with it,” he said. “But it’s worked a treat.”
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