Alexa and Company are useful voice assistants which are now widespread today. Unfortunately, if they interact too much with children, they can interfere with their growth.
Voice assistants have now literally invaded our lives. According to the researchers, however, for example, having voice assistants, already regular conversation partners, read bedtime stories, is not a good thing. Is it good for children’s cognitive and social development ? Children need many verbal signs to implement and contextualize the language . With voice assistants (Alexa, Siri or Google), however, they could imitate a monotonous tone and become apathetic.
The little ones must be able to distinguish an artificial voice from a human one, otherwise they will be disoriented as they grow up. Furthermore, voice assistants cannot respond with the right reaction if they are not thanked or treated badly. A child must understand when receiving constructive feedback or behaving inappropriately. If the voice assistant misinterprets a request that is made, it can sometimes even be dangerous. This can happen to a child who is not yet fluent in language.
If an adult is absent, the child can run into content that is inappropriate for his or her age and the risk is high. After these negative sides and risk factors in the use of voice assistants, on the other hand it must be said that there are also benefits . These include providing information quickly, assisting in daily activities and keeping company with lonely people.
However, if this happens at a very important stage of social-emotional development, there could be long-term consequences on empathy, compassion and critical thinking. It therefore seems that in the future there will be a version of Alexa for children with content suitable only for their age group. A dispassionate advice, however, is always that of not leaving children too long alone with virtual voice assistants.
- Can using too much voice assistants be harmful to children? (focus.it)
