https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9215-6103
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ABSTRACT
The range of available tracking technologies that target parents and children has increased dramatically over the last decade, providing functionalities such as location and activity tracking. Situated in emerging conversations on the more-than-human sensorium, this paper investigates tracking practices among Australian parents of children aged between two and eight. In only rare cases had parents adopted tracking apps and sensor-enabled devices. Parents experienced digital sensors as misleading and an interruption to the desired parent-child relationship. Parents instead leaned on their own observations and other sensory cues about their child’s health and wellbeing. These findings emphasize how sensed and sensored ways of knowing can be out of sync rather than mutually instructive where the technology is used to track another body. It also highlights the relevance of sensing in parent-child interaction orders.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to the parents who participated in this study for generously giving their time and for sharing their experiences and practices. Thanks also to Stephanie Kizimchuk, David Howes, and the two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments on drafts of this manuscript.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Sarah Maslen
Sarah Maslen is Associate Professor of Sociology in the Faculty of Business, Government and Law at the University of Canberra. Her research examines knowledge practices, the senses, and the relationality of human and non-human actors. Recent projects have addressed medical diagnosis as sensed and digitized, Australian women’s use of digital health technologies, and digital parenting. She is currently writing a book on how workers in different fields develop specialized aural skills.