The likes of Google Assistant and Alexa have been at the receiving end of privacy-related concerns for a while now, yet they continue to make inroads inside millions of homes. But it appears that they might also have a detrimental impact on the growth of children when it comes to their psycho-social development and acquiring core skills.
AI assistants made by Amazon, Apple, and Google continue to improve at a scary pace, and with each passing year, their ability to pull up relevant answers from the web is also gaining momentum. With such ease at their disposal, experts believe that the traditional process of hunting and absorbing knowledge has taken a backseat.
A hellscape of bad information “Children have poor understanding of how information is retrieved from the internet, where the internet is stored, and the limitations of the internet,” said the report. With such a chain of faith placed on the internet, it becomes a lot easier for young minds to absorb false information.
Alexa can’t teach courtesy Next in line is stunted social growth. Human-to-human conversations help refine social etiquette and allow children to learn how to behave the right way in the world out there. Chatting with a digital assistant doesn’t offer that privilege.