Summary Of The Undercover Parent Coben

Harlan Coben, in the article “The Undercover Parent” (2008), explains how parents should install spyware on their children’s devices to monitor them and keep them safe from the dangers of the Internet. Coben supports his claim by first comparing first thoughts of spyware to Dick Cheney sitting in a dark room, looking suspicious and shady and then he provides scenarios of things that have happened to those kids who were not being monitored. The author’s purpose is to inform parents of the dangers of the internet and the benefits of monitoring their kids in order to try and convince them to install spyware and keep their children safe. Coben writes in an urgent tone for guardians to increase the seeming need to watch their child’s actions on the internet. …show more content…
I have witnessed unkind things happen and have had things said to me over the internet that push me towards agreeing that parents should monitor their children, but I also know that I would like to have privacy just as most people do, which leads me to disagree. Coben’s arguments lack reliability and evidence in places where it is needed, such as when he gives examples of things people have said and when he claims to have done a great deal of research, causing his arguments to be weak. If I were going off his words alone, I would not be very convinced with Coben’s argument because of his absence of logos. I would see things in a new perspective, perhaps, since he gave reasonable examples that have a chance of happening, but I would not be persuaded to put spyware on my child’s