As a college student, getting support from your parents can feel like a safety net, but for this student, it feels more like shackles.
After obsessive tracking by their anxious mother on her iPhone, one student decided to declare their independence by switching to an android. But only then did they realize how tight their mother’s leash really was.
Read on for the full story!
After four years of having an iPhone SE, and even more years using other iPhones, I (22) recently bought an Android phone (Samsung A25).
This decision was due to several reasons, mainly storage issues and my mother controlling me through the “Find My” application from Apple.
She uses this feature to ease her anxiety.
For their mother, her tracking is closely linked with her health issues.
For example, she once experienced digestion problems because my phone appeared to be stuck in a shopping mall overnight — simply because the battery had died.
The parents have used secrecy as a way to maintain control.
I am not able to turn off the location sharing since I don’t know the password to the Apple ID. Only my parents know it, and they obviously won’t share it with me for this reason.
So the student decided to ditch the Apple ecosystem all together.
As a result, I decided to buy a new Android phone, as I consider myself old enough to live without their supervision.
Predictably, their parents were displeased.
I had a phone call with my father today, and he seemed unhappy about what I had done.
I am the first in my family not to have an iPhone, and now we need to transfer all my data.
The student is worried about the effect it may have on their mother, but at the same time, they desperately want more independence.
My mother will probably suffer from psychosomatic effects because of this change.
I should mention that I’m a student, so I don’t have a regular income and still depend on my parents for about half of my expenses.
AITA for buying this phone?
Modern life is so complicated, isn’t it?
What did Reddit think?
The mother should take this event as a sign that she needs to work through her anxiety differently.
Allowing her to continue to track may actually be making her problems worse in the long run.
What the mother is doing isn’t healthy and the rest of the family has a role to play in getting her the help she needs.
This commenter warns the student of the trouble that may lay ahead.
Balancing lingering dependence with personal freedom may just be one of the most challenging parts of being a student. But at a certain age, it’s only necessary.
Independence only thrives when it’s not suffocated by someone else’s fears.
If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.
