In a viral Reddit post published on r/AmITheA******, Redditor u/VegetableAd9619 (otherwise referred to as the original poster, or OP) said her three children—ages 17, 12 and 9—have been at each other’s necks for days, but she doesn’t feel the need take measures to separate her teen daughter from her younger brothers.

Titled, “[Am I the a******] for not letting my daughter have locks for her room?” the post has received more than 13,000 upvotes and 2,500 comments since November 6.

“My daughter Lara has been struggling to focus on her studies with her younger brothers…constantly disrespecting her privacy,” OP began. “Resulting in her screaming at them to stay out.”

Continuing to explain that her husband recently took issue with their daughter’s screaming, OP said the teenager proposed a lock on her bedroom door to keep the younger boys out of her space for good.

OP also said both she and her husband vehemently oppose installing a lock and made that very clear—much to the dismay of their disgruntled 17-year-old.

“She threatened she would move out as soon as she became financially independent since she wasn’t going to wait for [her brothers] to mature,” OP wrote. “I told her she wasn’t going to have locks set up because she already wastes her time without [them].

“I told her if they ever go into her room, she needs to [come] to me,” OP continued. “Then [my son] starts saying that they had the right to go into her room while she was trying to sleep because they were playing.

“Lara yelled at him, then said that she couldn’t wait to move out,” OP added. “She also called me an awful mother for not giving her…bedroom locks.”

In an age filled with cameras and connective technology, privacy comes at a premium, especially for teenagers.

The conflict over privacy between teens and their parents, however, existed long before cell phones and social media.

As children enter adolescence, their desire to be left alone, to operate behind closed doors, becomes more and more prevalent.

And according to Lisa Damour, psychologist and author of the forthcoming The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable and Compassionate Adolescents, their right to privacy is as imperative as ever.

“Teenagers need and deserve privacy, and adults should not assume that they’re up to no good if they want privacy,” Damour told Newsweek.

“There is nothing new about this,” she added. “This has been an important, if sometimes awkward, aspect of adolescent development for decades.”

Despite remaining largely dependent on parents, teenagers approaching their college years are tasked with developing into independent, young adults.

And while parents provide the necessities for survival, attempting to grow up while still living under their roof can be challenging, causing teens to retreat into the spaces they can call their own.

“Teenagers typically manage this tension by becoming very private at home, trying to live somewhat independently,” Damour said. “It’s unconscious, but is a pretty logical unfolding of events, for them to flex their independence muscles.

“From the parents’ side, it can feel very strange to have a child who used to be very forthright about their thoughts and feelings…suddenly become a child who gives one word answers and likes to be behind closed doors,” she added. “And they often assume that if a kid has something to do behind the closed door, what they’re doing is not good for them.”

While Damour also said it’s rare for parent-child conflict to reach the point that teenagers ask for locks on their bedroom doors, many Redditors responding to the viral post took issue with why OP’s daughter thought a bedroom lock was the only way to protect her privacy.

“What exactly are you doing to stop your sons acting like a*******?” Redditor u/janewilson90 questioned in the post’s top comment, which has received more than 56,000 upvotes. “They wreck her room, ignore her right to privacy, and barge in when she’s sleeping.

“What exactly have you done to impress on your sons that this behavior is not acceptable?” they pressed. “They’re old enough to know better.”

Redditor u/Bitter-Conflict-4089, whose comment has received nearly 25,000 upvotes, echoed that sentiment.

“A 17-year-old deserves privacy,” they wrote. “Why is your inability to keep your younger kids under control her problem?”

“Why on earth are you allowing your younger children to act like that?” Redditor u/Diligent-Activity-70 added. “Messing with their sister’s things and disrupting her study time is bad enough. Running through the room while she’s sleeping is even worse.”

“There would be no need for locks if you disciplined your sons when they invaded her privacy,” Redditor u/TinyRascalSaurus chimed in, receiving more than 4,000 upvotes.

Newsweek reached out to u/VegetableAd9619 for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.