Connected cots, talking teddies, and the rise of the algorithmic child

Digital technologies are now a ubiquitous part of our daily lives. And questions remain as to how these technologies are reshaping how we experience the world around us, and how the world around us is being reshaped. Included here is the rise of the ‘algorithmic child’. One area this is being played out is in the family – in changing the experience of not only childhood, but what constitutes good parenting.

This was the theme of a lecture I attended given by Dr Victoria Nash of the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford. She covered:

• The evolution of child safety in the digital era;
• Protecting children in an era of datafication; and,
• The future of parenting and childhood.

And it coincided with the publication of the Information Commissioner’s Office the Age Appropriate Design Code – a set of 15 standards that online services should meet to protect children’s privacy. While reference is made in the Code to connected toys, uses of data and so on, does it go far enough?

The evolution of child safety in the digital era

Since the early days of the internet, the issue of child safety has been in the spotlight. This was well before many of us even really knew what the internet was – the days of the dial-up modem, when you’d have to sit patiently, waiting for a page to load.

Photo by bert sz on Unsplash

For us who can remember those early days, circa 2002, advice to parents on how they can keep their children safe online included an explanation of what the internet was. The key concerns about online harms included the potential for child sexual abuse as well as concerns that parents may not be aware of who their child is in contact with.

These were also the days when if there was a computer, it was likely there would only be one per household. These were often placed in communal spaces. Dot matrix printers were all the rage.

Contrast that with now where OFCOM’s Children and parents: media use and attitudes report 2019 reports that:

• 24% of 3-4 year olds have their own tablet with 49% of these using it to go online; 15% are allowed to take their tablet to bed with them;
• 5% of 5-7 year olds have their own smartphone and 37% have their own tablet; 20% use a smart speaker in the home;
• 37% of 8-11 year olds have their own smartphone and 49% have their own tablet; 21% of online users have a social media profile; and
• 83% of 12-15 year olds have a smartphone and 59% have their own tablet with 74% and 61% of these respectively allowed to take it to bed with them; 71% of online users have a social media profile.

Not only has access to digital technologies changed, but also our ownership. Largely gone are the days when we see these technologies are owned ‘by the family’. Instead, ownership has shifted to be more personal, making it difficult for parents to effectively ‘police’ what their children might be seeing and who they’re interacting with.

This is not a call to go back to the ‘good ol’ days’, or taking devices away from children. It does however raise important questions both about the potential for harms and how we frame these and respond.

Protecting children in an era of datafication

In 2017, the My Friend Cayla doll was banned in Germany. The toy has been designed to interact with children via Bluetooth and uses speech-to-text technology. Not only was it possible to hack the toy to enable it to swear, there was also the risk a third party could record and listen to conversations children were having, without parents’ knowledge.

While the harms here may seem fairly innocuous, albeit, creepy, there are other growing trends that can cause very real harms. One of these is identify theft with there being cases of children’s data being sold, as well as issues of toys being hacked with the intention of ‘spying’ on children.

Increasingly, questions need to be asked about what data is being collected, by whom, and for what purposes. For me, the issues here are both short and long term. The data collected measuring baby’s heart rate, temperature, breathing, designed to alert parents to any unexpected variations, may prove helpful to alleviate concerns about a child’s health status. This is great and has many potential applications, particularly in health settings. But, fast forward a few years, what might this mean for access to things like health insurance? Access to education? At the moment, it’s too early to tell.

But what is clear is that data has value, and increasing amounts of personal data is being collected.

The future of parenting and childhood

Current trends in digital tech can give us some indication of where this is all heading. Parents now have the ability to proactively monitor text messages (e.g. Bark), have their children monitored via GPS, including with some devices enabling parents to listen into their children’s conversations without them knowing, monitor the parents’ child in the classroom (e.g. Class Dojo), and measure baby’s oxygen levels and heart rate via a smart sock, albeit it’s not classified as a medical device (e.g. Owlet).

And there are clear arguments as to the benefits of this tech – to keep children safe from inappropriate contact and/or bullying, to better support your child at school, to reduce parental anxiety when babies are asleep. On the flipside, questions should be asked about what are the implications of the increasing surveillance of children? What happens with all this data? Are we at risk of increasingly making decisions for and about children based on data, rather than the child itself?

There is also a lack of research into what the effects are on parents. A lot of assumptions are being made here – that tracking your child’s every move reduces parental concerns; that data is being used as it is intended and so on. There’s also the opportunity cost – if parents are spending so much time monitoring, what aren’t they doing instead?

Conclusion

There are many issues to unpack when it comes to the rise of digital tech in families which are only now beginning to emerge. What is clear is while the issue of child safety is critical, so too is the need for wider discussions about data, security and privacy.