CHILDREN’S DEVELOPMENT CAN BE HINDERED BY VOICE-CONTROLLED DEVICES: STUDY

Sun 02 October 2022:

According to a recent study, using voice-controlled assistants can have a long-term impact on a child’s social and cognitive development

Today we are surrounded by AI-powered devices like Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri or Google Home which are used for several varied purposes like setting an alarm, playing music, asking questions, and so on. However, a study published in the journal, Archives of Disease in Childhood shows that a child’s development particularly related to their empathy, compassion and critical thinking skills can be hindered in the long run because of such devices.

According to Anmol Arora of the University of Cambridge and the co-author of the study, “The multiple impacts on children include inappropriate responses, impeding social development and hindering learning opportunities.”

Furthermore, the key concern, in this case, is that children attribute human characteristics to these devices which are just essentially just trained words and sounds that are mashed together to form sentences, the co-author told the Guardian.

He added that children anthropomorphise and then go on to emulate these devices by just copying them including their failure to alter their tone, volume, emphasis or intonation. Therefore, this lack of ability to engage in non-verbal communication makes these devices a poor method of learning social interaction.

On the other hand, in day-to-day human interactions children receive constructive feedback if they were to behave inappropriately, which a device cannot possibly ensure. These devices also lack the automatic expectation of the children to use words like “please” or “thank you”. Additionally, devices are also limited to the type of questions they can respond to which could result in children learning “very narrow forms of questioning and always in the form of a demand,” said Arora.

He then went on to note the problem with recognising different accents like if the child is young and they do not pronounce certain words properly, there is a risk of misinterpretation and of them being exposed to something inappropriate. One of the inappropriate responses he cited includes the device that once suggested that a 10-year-old should try touching a live plug with a coin.

However, the study also goes on to say that while the use of voice assistants as a social companion for lonely adults has shown promise, it is not entirely clear if that applies to children, said the study.

“This is particularly important at a time when children might already have had social development impaired as a result of COVID-19 restrictions and when (the children) might have been spending more time isolated with smart devices at home,” said the researcher.

He added that these devices are designed to search for requested information and provide it with a concise, specific answer, which may hinder the traditional processes by which children learn and absorb information. “However, urgent research is required into the long-term consequences for children interacting with such devices,” Arora asserted.

Echoing a similar sentiment, a recently published study by Dr Ádám Miklósi shows that the use of smartphones and tablets is ‘rewiring’ children’s brains with long-term effects, reported the Guardian.

“At the moment, these devices are very primitive because the people who develop them don’t care about human interaction or their impact on children’s development,” said Miklósi. He added that while the companies know how adults use them, the usage of devices by children and their impact is “very different”. Therefore, the research is important and that companies should take this concern more seriously, said the researcher.

However, Dr Caroline Fitzpatrick, of Canada Research Chair in Digital Media Use by Children and Its Implications for Promoting Togetherness: An Ecosystemic Approach told the Guardian that there is not much cause for concern. According to her, as long as parents keep limits for children and they are getting enough interactions from their caregivers and peers she does not think there should be a cause for alarm.

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