By
C.J. Hirschfield
“Echo
Dot Kids: It’s sturdy! It’s safe! It’s kid friendly! It’s transaction free!”
The
Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) would add another
line to that Amazon marketing copy: It’s a marketing device!
Amazon
released the Echo Dot Kids Edition, a voice-activated assistant that the
company calls “a smart speaker with Alexa for kids,” in May 2018. CCFC, which
advocates for the end of child-targeted marketing, is countering with
presentations to various groups and conferences around the country. I just
viewed one such presentation, geared toward software developers, and I learned
a lot.
On
the plus side, says the CCFC, the device has parental controls, so parents can turn off Alexa after
bedtime, or ban particular activities they don’t want their kid accessing. And
there are content restrictions, including filtering out explicit music. And,
importantly, it does disable voice purchases. But CCFC argues that none of
these “solutions” address the real problem with giving kids their own personal
Echo: It’s a marketing device.
Echo Dot Kids, via CNET |
“Echo Dot Kids Edition is ‘for kids’ the
same way that Happy Meals are for kids: they appeal to children, offer convenience
or assistance to parents in the moment, and aren’t that great for us in the
long run,” says CCFC communications manager Melissa Campbell.
In
particular, there are a couple of things about this product that really concern
me.
Amazon’s
ad copy specifically invites kids to say “Alexa, I’m bored,” which will result
in a game or activity being offered, possibly from one of Amazon’s brand
partners. That results in kids entering someone else’s imagination and not
their own.
For those of us who believe that boredom inspires kids to use their own
imaginations, and that imagination-driven play is critically important to young
kids’ development, having a marketing/brand-driven device steer kids is scary.
And young kids don’t understand what marketing is.
They can’t protect themselves from advertising
messages the way adults can.
CCFC’s presentation says that to young
kids, Alexa feels like a friend, and that kids treat “her” like one: they tell
her secrets, ask her questions. They’re pretty sure she’s a person. In a study
performed by MIT’s Media Lab, 74 percent of child subjects thought that Alexa
“always told the truth.”
And here’s the other thing that concerns
me: Kids want to get to know Alexa, but Alexa can get to know them back
CCFC claims that Echo Dot Kids uses data
to “make personalized product recommendations and offerings for children.” Amazon
uses what kids have done in the past - how they’ve played, what they’ve liked,
what they haven’t liked - to make recommendations for new games and products.
CCFC claims that these algorithms aren’t
calibrated to “enjoyment” or “pleasure” or “learning” or “growth” -- they’re
calibrated to what keeps someone on a device, or what they’re likely to
purchase.
One of CCFC’s conclusions: that “the core
logic of Alexa is great for data collection and revenues, but detrimental to
kids.” Surveillance is a strong word, but yes, the Campaign for a
Commercial-Free Childhood goes there.
CCFC carefully read Amazon’s privacy
policy for the product and concluded that “using this privacy policy, it is
next to impossible for parents to know what happens to their children’s data.”
I will leave you with this bit of
marketing for Amazon’s Echo Dot Kids:
“You can use compatible Echo devices or the Alexa app to let
kids know dinner is ready, ask for help with a chore, or remind them to go to
sleep - all without raising your voice.”
If you find that scary, then please be wary. Alexa may not be
your kid’s new bestie.
__
C.J. Hirschfield has served for 17 years as executive director of Children’s Fairyland, where she is charged with the overall operation of the nation’s oldest storybook theme park.
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