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TikTok video shows what appears to be a college student's father greeting her regularly through the family'sRing doorbell. - @emilyybrandd, who posted the video, wrote in the caption that she checks the Ring footage from home while away at college.
- The Amazon-owned ring has come under in the past for privacy- and surveillance-related concerns.
When students move away for college, figuring out how to stay in touch with their parents — and vice versa — can be a bit of a challenge. For one TikToker, checking in with her dad seems to be as easy as going over the footage from her family's Ring doorbell.
@emilyybrandd I told my dad I watch the ring videos at home when I’m away at college and he started leaving me messages ##college ##ring ##funny ##heyemily ##foryou ##fy
♬ original sound - emilyybrandd
Ring doorbells are smart doorbells that contain a high-definition camera, motion sensor, microphone, and speaker. Users can access the doorbell's video feed via the Ring app, allowing them instant access to the camera's field of view. Ring promotes the product on its website as a crime deterrent as well as a way to stay connected at home.
In the caption of the TikTok video, @emilyybrandd says that she keeps up with her family via the Ring doorbell, writing, "I told my dad I watch the ring videos at home when I'm away at college and he started leaving me messages." The video, which was posted on May 20, quickly took off on TikTok, amassing over 750,000 likes and three million views in the day since it was uploaded.
Throughout the video, which is a compilation of assorted clips of Ring footage, the man that @emilyybrandd says is her father passes along various messages beginning with a casual, "Hey, Em." "Hey, Em, got $9 off at Rite Aid," he says. "Hey Em, sorry I couldn't read your text yet, I was driving," he says in a later clip. "Good luck on your final, last one!" he says.
It seems to have resonated with people on TikTok, with one commenter writing, "I'm not even joking for a good comment I literally sat in the bathroom crying. I never had in my life that's been like this so it's wholesome." Another commenter astutely notes, "You have to submit this to Ring... this is their next big commercial."
It's unclear if @emilyybrandd has a relationship with the company, which has frequently used viral Ring videos for advertising in the past. She didn't immediately respond for comment.
While the video is undeniably wholesome, the Amazon-owned Ring has come under fire in the past for privacy- and surveillance-related concerns. A June 2019 report from CNET's Albert Ng found that some police departments across the United States were offering free or discounted Ring doorbells to citizens, stipulating in some giveaways that police would require recipients to turn over footage at request; Ring said at the time in a statement that "Ring does not support programs that require recipients to subscribe to a recording plan or that footage from Ring devices be shared as a condition for receiving a donated device."
More recently, an Electronic Frontier Foundation study found that the Android version of the Ring app was "packed" with third-party trackers that gather users' personally identifiable information like names and IP addresses, leaking them to five tracking services. In January, Ring told lawmakers that it had fired four employees who had accessed information that "exceeded what was necessary for their job functions."
- Read more:
- The Ring Video Doorbell lets you watch over your home, even when you're a thousand miles away — here's how it works
- Amazon's home security company Ring hands personally identifiable information to Facebook and Google, according to a study
- Ring said it has fired four employees for abusing access to customers' video footage in the past four years
- Police departments across the US are using video doorbells from Amazon-owned Ring to create an unofficial surveillance network, a new report says