Alexa, what do our members think about children having smart speakers?

Cher_Alumni

This Guardian article today reported on the increase in children having their own smart speakers.  This technology, which heralded the arrival of Alexa and Siri, has become commonplace in our everyday lives but its soaring popularity with kids is causing some worry.  

One concern is that data is becoming less and less private.  While another fear is the impact of such technology on speech development:

"there are unanswered questions about how hearing a mother or father giving orders to voice assistants might affect their development."

What do you think to children having their own Amazon dot or Google home?  Are you comfortable with the idea and think it's just another evolution of tech?  Or does it give you the virtual creeps?

Let us know what you think in the comments 

woodbine

I don't even have one myself and i'm 61, I think they make people lazy and tbh i'm no technophobe having had a laptop since 1996.
But having said that its out of the bag now isn't it and all age groups should have it IF they want it, I didn't even know I could talk to my NOW tv remote control until my (then) 5 year old grandson showed me how.
At school we didn't even have calculators we still used slide rules, but 25 years later both my kids went to a technology school and had a PC at every desk.
What i'm saying is you can't halt the march of technology the genie is out of the bottle now, but I do think parents need to limit the amount of time their kids spend in front of a screen.

janer1967

My son had one I found it improved his speech as he is a bit of a mumbler  but had to speak clearer to Alexa 

I do think tho kids dont gave to spend time looking for answers they use devices to ask now 

The main use for out Alexa is to play music 

Ross_Alumni

Speaking from personal experience, they've been a massive help for those with a visual impairment, and I'm sure that's no different for children. Like with most technology or forms of entertainment, I believe they're best used in moderation when you're a young person, but there are definitely benefits.

They can be used as a good resource for education and learning as well, whether that be through completing audio based puzzles or other kinds of quizzes. During the course of the pandemic, I know that Google have made an effort to make their speakers more useful for those who are home schooling their children, for example you can now set what they call "family bells" to go off periodically, which are used to signify when the child is supposed to switch lesson, have lunch or finish school work for the day.

They definitely have some good use for children, but yeah they aren't without faults.