A mom has recently divided the internet after she said she’s allowed to snoop through her kids’ phones because she is the one that pays for them.
Laura Muse openly admitted to confiscating her 15-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter’s phones before they go to bed so that they can get a good night’s sleep instead of being hooked online.
But while most people would expect her to put them away until morning, this North Carolina mom spends some time going through them in order to make sure her teens are behaving.
Speaking to The New York Post, the 41-year-old emphasized that because she pays for their phones, she’s allowed to do it.
“I own their phones, I pay for the phones. I can go through them whenever I want,” she said. “People might think [it] is a sign of disrespect or an invasion of their privacy, but this is how I manage my ship.”
What started off as random, weekly checks when her children were around 11 years old carried on well into their teen lives, with the mom-of-two occasionally still asking them for their hand-held devices to look through.
Muse also told the outlet that while she trusts her kids, she is doing her checks in order to prevent them from engaging in inappropriate exploits while simultaneously protecting them from online predators and scammers.
However, that doesn’t mean the 41-year-old – who is a mental health clinician – hasn’t also caught them out. In the past, it was reported that she caught her son, Cohen, posting shirtless pictures of himself online. Of course, the hawk-eyed mama got him to delete the content.
“If I do find something that’s an issue, we talk about it and turn it into a teachable moment,” she added. “I’m not perfect, I don’t expect my children to be perfect, but it’s important to keep an eye on things.”
And Muse isn’t the only mom who’s using this controversial method to keep an eye on their kids.
Other parents have also reverted to snooping through their children’s phones to make sure that there’s nothing compromising on there.
One outraged mother discovered that her 15-year-old son was sharing explicit pictures of himself with his girlfriend while she looked through his phone at six in the morning. Using a TikTok sound that stated “I’m going to lose my s*** today”, the clip showed her in action scrolling through her teen’s phone while rubbing her forehead, clearly frustrated.
While some people supported the move, stating that they’re also doing the same, others criticized her lack of trust.
“One thing I will do that my parents did with us was never search my kids phones. They instilled the whole we deserve some amount of privacy,” one user wrote to which the mom replied back saying: “Everyone has their own parenting style. I am lenient to an extent. Child p*** is not okay in my book. Down [sic] not matter that they are both minors.”
Another commentor said: “Privacy is good, But the internet is DANGEROUS” and again, the unfazed mom replied back saying: “No privacy when I pay his bills.”