What do wireless speakers, streaming music subscriptions, smartphones, and custom game controllers have in common? They are some of the best technology gifts for kids and teenagers This yr.
A number of smart watches and fitness trackers, also often known as e-wearable devices, round out the list. And you are not alone in case you’re occupied with buying one for a toddler or teenager this holiday season – e-wearable device sales are forecast to skyrocket $73 billion until 2022.
According to Survey conducted in the UK by Attest33 percent of Gen Z (ages 24 and under) own or use wearable electronic devices. As stated by Jim Taylor, creator of, amongst others, says: “This is the next big thing. It’s not a matter of whether it becomes part of the culture, but when and how.”
Should parents be nervous?
Electronic wearable devices can be found at a range of prices and offer, amongst others: various advertised features that can make us healthier. Most of them can monitor your heart rate, count steps and calories burned, and monitor your sleep. And when connected to a smartphone, many individuals can mirror the device.
Kid-friendly versions often use GPS to trace and have an SOS button or one-way voice from parent to children. While e-wearables promise wellness, they will deliver something completely different. Should parents be nervous?
As someone who has been researching e-wearables as a strategy to teach children about mental health for over 10 years, I even have observed some disturbing unintended consequences of their use.
IN my research laboratory, we used a straightforward brain sensor headset connected to a digital game to assist children learn to remain calm and concentrate – two essential elements of self-regulation that children must succeed. Although our program was successful, I noticed some disturbing negative effects.
Sometimes systems did not work properly or feedback was not accurate, and youngsters interpreted these technical failures as their very own. We began asking; Is it healthy to always monitor teenagers and give them feedback on their food regimen and exercise? How easy can it’s for a toddler to change into hooked on a fitness tracker? Could they stop listening to their very own observations and treat e-wearable as an authority?
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Designed based on normative assumptions
Most wearable electronic devices, even those intended for kids, are designed around normative assumptions and values, often reflecting affluent, adult, male and performance-oriented end users.
Designs and algorithms typically interpret well-being as improved performance or greater productivity. However, on the subject of children, the ‘more is best’ approach can have a number of negative effects on their wellbeing.
This, coupled with the often punitive tone of feedback, is cause for concern. Young individuals are often more liable to social and environmental influences, like peer pressure. Positive and negative feedback comes at a critical time in the development of their identity, self-esteem and self-efficacy.
While young people’s data about their bodies is fed into devices that keep track of the whole lot, I even have focused my research on understanding how e-wearable devices can impact their developing sense of self. I checked out how negative messages can influence the formation of their identity over time.
Negative messaging affects identity
If your child’s Apple Watch tells them that they are normally closer to reaching their exercise goal presently of day, it is simple to see that your child may begin to think of themselves as lazy. Or during the Covid-19 pandemic, a student’s stress tracker could allow them to know they’re feeling consistently high levels of stress. This may cause them to develop an identity as a stressed person somewhat than as someone who’s resilient and in a position to cope in the face of stressful times.
My research shows that I’m an interdisciplinary researcher Alexandra Kitson and posted “1,2,3,4 tell me how to grow even more: a stance on children, design ethics and biowearable devices” We identified several areas of concern about how the latest wearable technology may negatively impact a toddler’s developing self-esteem.
The first is the formation of identity, i.e. who the child thinks he’s when he grows up. The second is autonomy, i.e. the development of the child’s ability to make his own decisions and not be influenced by others. We also checked out agency (the child’s sense of having the ability to take motion and have an effect on the world) and power (who and what the child looks for as a source of details about himself or herself).
As indicated, there may be a danger here by historian and philosopher Yuval Harari, we might imagine that our devices know us higher than we all know ourselves. For a toddler, the goal is not all the time productive outcomes, but often processes and experiences. Telling a toddler what to do does not give them the opportunity to explore, experience and learn from their very own decisions.
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Then we checked out authenticity, the ability to be present in the moment and personality. Then we developed set of cards for user experience designers that clarifies these issues and raises questions for consideration. Our study then examined how you can support children in understanding the possible unintended consequences of using wearable electronic devices.
Since then, we’ve got offered workshops for young teenagers to explore these issues while learning and creating their very own e-wearable devices. During the workshops, we heard about their concerns and it is not any wonder that the topic of addiction got here up over and over.
We cannot depend on educational institutions to show young people about these potential issues. However, they’re a key part of technical skills and each child should find out about them.
To encourage families to speak about the unintended consequences and potential negative impact of electronic devices on kid’s self-esteem, we created conversation starters for families.
During the holiday season, I encourage caregivers who want to go away their smartwatch under the tree to also take time to have family conversations about the potential impacts.
