Are your children “friends” with a chatbot?
“I thought we were friends…” is one of the most memorable lines from the 1975 cult classic, The Stepford Wives . The movie uses the interface between human and robotic AI technology to challenge and raise questions about the social norms of the 70’s.
Here we are, 50 years later, and AI is being baked into most (all?) things digital, impacting more and more of our daily lives, and the lives of our children. When I was considering a surgery two years ago, the doctor I met with said, “You do know that your surgery will be performed by a robot…” Medicine, like many practices, is changing quickly.
Enter chatbots. According to a recent study by Common Sense Media 72% of teens have used AI companions. A third of these teens find them satisfying or more satisfying than human interaction.
If you find this troubling as I think we all should, we need to correct our children’s misunderstanding about what makes for a healthy relationship: mutual giving and receiving. Chatbot relationships, if we can even call them that, are one-way transactions. Chatbots give, we receive. There is nothing to give back to a chatbot. It begins with me and ends with me.
Consider doing a study of the one another verses in the Bible. There are 59. You can read them here. Read them, discuss them, and find ways to practice them.
Thanks for reading!
Curt Bumcrot, MRE
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Also:
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