Alexa, You're Scary

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.

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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.