Positive 89.3, Dr. Phil, and CarChips

My friends at Positive 89.3 were talking this morning about a recent episode of Dr. Phil which covered the issues of parenting and teen privacy through discussing the use of CarChips to monitor driving habits.

Basically, a CarChip is a device that plugs into the "On Board Diagnostic" port in your car. (That's the interface that your mechanic uses to tell you why the "Check Engine" light keeps coming on.) Depending on the model of the CarChip, it will record between 75 and 300 hours of data, including speed, rate of acceleration, driving time, etc. You then can take the chip out of the car, connect it to your computer's USB port, and download and analyze the data using the software which was included with the chip.

On last Thursday's show, Dr. Phil's had a father-son duo as guests on his show. The father had installed the CarChip in the car without telling his son, and after just a few days downloaded and analyzed the data. You can imagine his shock and anger when he discovered that on three separate occasions during those three days, his son had driven in excess of 100mph.

As you might expect, the son felt betrayed and distrusted, and was angry that his father had installed the chip and not told him. Dr. Phil responded by saying, "You said you forgot to tell him. What's the point in telling him? ... I'm glad you didn't tell him."

Listeners to Positive 89.3 called in with many viewpoints--some applauding the father for looking out for his son, many wanted to know where they could get a CarChip, a few were concerned for the privacy of the son.

Toward the end of the morning, listeners began to express a slightly different sentiment about trust and parental example. One listener said, "Using technology to keep tabs on your kids is easy, maybe it's time to do the hard work of parenting. If you don't trust them to drive, maybe you shouldn't let them drive." (my paraphrase). Another listener offered, "Let's remember where kids learn things. It's important for us to be sure we're setting the good example so they learn good habits." (my paraphrase)

I was particularly surprised at the number of callers who agreed with Dr. Phil's comment, "What's the point in telling him? ... I'm glad you didn't tell him." Listeners said that telling him about the chip would cause him to modify his behavior, and so the father wouldn't have an accurate picture of the son's driving habits.

While I can see the point there, (and I don't believe that it was legally--or even ethically--necessary for the father to tell the son about the chip), I have a slightly different point of view on the matter. Do we really care if we get an accurate picture of the son's driving habits? Isn't it more important to know that he'll drive safely?

The story says that the son has been using similar driving patterns for the last four months. It seems to me that the father must have suspected that there was a problem, or else he wouldn't have invested $150 in a CarChip. Let's imagine that the scenario had played out slightly differently-- the father installs the chip on Sunday, and decides not to tell the son about the chip until Wednesday. On Monday, the son is driving home from school, picks up his speed to 100mph, and goes off the road and hits a tree and is killed instantly.

Did the CarChip do any good?

Absolutely not.

It seems to me that the primary benefit of the CarChip is not simply in its existence. It's not in the father's ability to pull a sneak attack and say, "Gotcha!" No, the primary benefit is one of accountability--the son knows that the data is being recorded and that he will be held accountable for it, and so he modifies his behavior. That could save a life.

In the summer, our teen camp hosts a team of college students who help lead worship, run crafts, and spend time with the teens. They travel all summer long in a college van. I've learned that these vans are all equipped with GPS transmitters (not just passive receivers), which allow the security officers on campus to know exactly where the vans are at any moment. They can also read speed information, and have the authority to call the driver of the van and levy a fine for excessive speed. You can bet that driving habits in those vans have greatly improved since this system was instituted. And isn't that the goal?

One of the marks of Spiritual Growth and Formation is that of accountability. We encourage small groups of people to develop deep enough relationships so that they can help each other through their struggles, holding each other accountable for actions. The real goal of accountability is not to have a confrontation when someone falls, but to help them keep from falling in the first place--simply because they know that someone will ask them the hard questions.

Technology can be a good thing. I'm not entirely comfortable with the "big brother" aspects of this story. At the same time, it's the father's car, and his son is a minor. I simply think that both trust and safety could have been preserved, and that it's not necessary to sacrifice one in favor of the other.

Those are my thoughts...I welcome yours!

Grace and Peace,

PastorJon