For this reflection I read more into smart home devices. While my household hasn’t bought into a smart home device, I can see why some families opt into it. There’s a level on convenience to it that can help some free up space in their mind for more important things. Amazon Alexa even lets you add things to your cart on voice commands, making it easier to shop for things you need (Terdiman, 2018). Despite these conveniences, there is still concern with allowing a voice activated device into your home. There have been instances of privacy violations where devices have been recording users and sending reports to Google by default (Russakovskii, 2017). Although there were hotfixes issued and features disabled, it’s still concerning to me that a product went live with that issue in the first place.

Another aspect of smart home devices that concerns me is the relationships young children have with these personified devices. One of the articles I read, “Growing up with Alexa”, discussed how children who begin interacting with these devices at a young age start to develop a type of bond with it, almost like a childhood toy. The author goes on to explain that the resulting relationship places the device in between animate and inanimate- to me, it sounded like a relationship with an imaginary friend. I imagine this severely impacts childhood development and how children in the future will learn how to converse with others.

I think both issues are of concern for librarians and anyone in the information science space. Data privacy is becoming a big issue for the general public and providing resources that make our community aware of how to manage our data with the technology we use every day should be a priority. Additionally, providing youth programming that allows children to learn social skills outside of an Alexa would help mitigate these issues to the best of our professional abilities.

References

Daniel Terdiman. (2018, January 5). Here’s How People Say Google Home And Alexa Impact Their Lives. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/40513721/heres-how-people-say-google-home-and-alexa-impact-their-lives

Kelly, S. M. (2018, October 16). Growing up with Alexa: A child’s relationship with Amazon’s voice assistant | CNN Business. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/16/tech/alexa-child-development

Russakovskii, A. (2017, October 10). Google is permanently nerfing all Home Minis because mine spied on everything I said 24/7 [Update x2]. Android Police. https://www.androidpolice.com/2017/10/10/google-nerfing-home-minis-mine-spied-everything-said-247/