In a much quainter time at the dawn of the Internet age, well intentioned stakeholders including parents, teachers, government, Internet service providers, and developers of kids’ content saw that kids might become endangered on the Internet. Cyberbullying, harassment, exposure to inappropriate content and images, solicitation of minors – these were some of the big issues tackled. As the Internet continues to evolve, these issues will remain and continue to morph. But wait… there’s more.
Now that we’ve raised the first two generations of Internet youth (Millennials and Gen Z were both born to this world) it’s time to let the past inform the biggest issues we’re likely to face in the future. Because as they say, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Technologies like AI, robo-chats, and VR as well as social memes like fake news and the increasingly commercialization of the Internet should be forcing us to take an eyes-wide-open look at Internet safety for the next decade.
The World of Personal Assistants, IoT and Robo-chats
Machines are getting better at understanding our human conversations every day. Watching Alexa or Google Home talk to your toddlers is the new adorable. And it won’t be long before some smart 4-year-old can say “Alexa, buy me a pony.”
A raft of cutting edge kids’ products like STEMosaur and Professor Einstein are talking toys with a direct line to information stored in the cloud. Your kids can try to ask them anything. What will happen, we’re not quite sure.
If you’ve chatted online with Domino’s pizza, a college counselor, your bank, or a news outlet, you may be talking to an algorithm making decisions based on what it infers from the conversation. Robo-chats are increasingly skilled in the art of conversation, both on keyboard and voice. The question going forward? Do robots need to identify themselves as non-human to your kids?
Virtual Reality
Today it’s still a bit geeky to think of your kids donning VR headsets and plugging into some alternate immersive reality. But as the costs and the size of the devices come down, it’s likely your kids will be chatting, sharing and shopping in a virtual world. Facebook Spaces, a virtual experience is already in beta. Amazon, Google, and most of kids’ favorite brands from clothing to music are all hurtling to VR platforms. How difficult will it be to protect kids in these new mediums?
Mobile Addiction
New forms of tech have usually augmented, not replaced other media. But there’s something larger going on when it comes to the behaviors that are uniquely a part of life online. It’s been shown that being online is every bit as addictive as an opioid or a cigarette. We now check our smartphones on average of 150 times a day. We text while driving and crossing the street, a public health crisis in the making. Balance and digital diets continue to be a critical safety topic for all of us.
Fake!
We live in a world where every day is April Fools Day. That letter from the Nigerian Prince asking for funds, so popular in the Internet’s early days, seems so obvious now. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t being fooled again and again.
With the increased commercialization of the Internet, everyone from advertisers to politicians to activist groups can microtarget you with compelling ads and news according to race, economics, gender and much more. As the Congressional Hearings make abundantly clear, social media can craft even more convincing fake news stories to manipulate opinion, distort truth, and impede democracy. Disturbing videos like the creepy Peppa Pig, routinely appear on sites like YouTube Kids despite the company’s reported best efforts to police content.
Can we teach our children to develop a sixth sense of authenticity? Propaganda and quack advertising claims have always been a part of our culture, but social media’s megaphone and virality make it increasingly dangerous.
You Are the Product Social Media Sells
Kids will need a framework that reinforces what media experts have known for decades: while you are the consumer of online media, you are also very much the product that social media sells. And what you consume is more finely sliced and diced than ever before. Will we be protected by more government regulation? Probably not. But this problem will surely be a focus for advocacy groups working to ensure that online media is held to the same best practices for identifying paid content and fact-checking as what is published in older media.
This week I’ll be joining my colleague and longtime kids’ safety advocate Larry Magid at the FOSI Annual Conference to tease out the most important issues we should be thinking about when it comes to protecting our kids in the new age of ubiquitous connectivity. Any thoughts to share? We’re listening. Send mail to Robin@robinraskin.com.