It turns out smartphones really are smart.

Whether you know it or not you could be sharing all of the information––including what you've erased––on your smartphone with your parents. As technology is getting more advanced, being able to snoop on a teen's phone is becoming a lot easier than the old glance over the shoulder or a quick peek after they've fallen asleep. In fact, most parents don't agree with the fact that children should be handed cellphones at such a young age, but they do it anyway to stalk their children. So next time you see a 7-year-old with a nicer phone than you, it may not be because their parents are spoiling them, because it may actually be their little portable tracker.

Yup, that's right: There are hundreds of apps like Mspy, and phone carrier services available for parents to access your deleted and undeleted messages, conversations on Facebook, Instagram posts and photos from their own phone or computer and it is completely legal, and most parents buy their children smartphones just so that they can use it as a virtual diary. In fact, a recent poll by Harris Interactive shows that 65 percent of kids aged 8 to 12 have phones that are checked by their parents, and a third of their parents track their locations too. Even among teens up to 17 years old, 43 percent of their parents are checking their phones, and 35 percent of them are doing it behind their child's back. As long as the parent is the one paying the phone bill and the child is under 18 it is completely legal and sometimes even enforced. However, once their child is an adult if a parent continues to track their location or view their messages and photos without their child's consent even if they are the one paying the phone bill they can be in big legal trouble.

So if you're in high school and your parents are stalking your phone and you are wondering what you can do about it the answer is: As long as you are under the age of 18 and they are your legal guardian... nothing! I mean other than starting your own phone plan and paying for it yourself or destroying your iPhone or Android, and even then if your parents still find away to snoop on your phone since they are your legal guardians there really isn't much you can do.

So what is up with this generation of parent stalkers? Most parents argue that if "they pay the phone bill the phone isn't really their kid's." However, that may be a pretty weak argument considering a good amount of parents don't just monitor their child's phone; they deliberately read their child's messages and go through their photos just to be nosy. While it may seem like their right, it actually can cause a lot of psychological problems for their child. It turns out parents who snoop on their kid's smartphone actually have a much worse relationship with their child. Though they may not notice it, they stop asking their child about their day and don't attempt to make conversation with them because they know they can find every bit of information about them through searching through their smartphone. In stead of making them closer to their child it actually creates distance between them.

It turns out a huge ratio of children whose parents knowingly or unknowingly spy on their smartphones admit to feeling "unloved" and "unsupported" by their parents most of the time. So the argument isn't whether or not snooping is ethical; it is that parents may be distancing themselves from their kids unknowingly and causing them severe psychological problems based on lack of affection which leads to severe rebellion later on. So, just because the majority of parents are doing it, doesn't mean it is the best thing for the child. In fact, turns out just trusting them may be the best option. I mean, that's what parents have been doing for centuries before smartphones and even without stalking the world wasn't much worse of a place.