I can see my twin sons driving down to Florida, tracking south on I-85 toward Panama City Beach.

I’m sure they won’t have noticed Newnan Towing Services and the Canongate 1 Golf Club flashing past the window as they pass through Coweta County, Georgia, but I can see it all on my smartphone, the detailed progress illustrated by their white initials inside gently pulsing gray circles on the location tracking app.

I am one of the millions of parents who’ve had the ability to locate their children from the day we bought them smartphones, wondering whether it’s still appropriate to track where they are now that they are young adults in college.

One in four parents say that they track their young adult child’s location with GPS apps or software, according to a 2024 Pew Research Center report. But given my unscientific poll of my parental peer group, I’m surprised the number isn’t higher. Many of my family’s parent friends — some of whom wanted to be anonymous, while others were OK being quoted — say their kids consent to the tracking and that they track their kids for peace of mind and safety, nothing more.

“We have never had to question her whereabouts, and unless her location looked really suspicious, we won’t,” said parent Christy Keys of her daughter Ella, who attends the University of Tennessee.

“He wants me to know where he is!” said parent Kim Asher of her son Aaron, a George Washinton University senior. “Being in DC now is crazy times!”

Far from using the technology to intrude on their children’s privacy, some of our friends said that they use it to make sure they don’t intrude in their children’s lives.