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Google releases smart watch for kids

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Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#141

Post by swatcoder »

wepple wrote: post #120
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #106

Ugh, I threw up a little in my mouth just from the headline. This constant tracking of kids is unnecessary and dangerous. Generations of kids survived without their parents needing to know their location at all times. And yes, I totally admit, some kids (very few actually depending on the locale) didn't survive. But we've traded this false sense of "safety" for kids that are so risk averse it is seriously negatively…

> Generations of kids survived without their parents needing to know their location at all times. And cars used to be safe even without seatbelts! It turns out times change. Before you think I’m disagreeing with the entirety of your comment, my own kids are the most free-range in-the-dirt kids I know. But it’s location-dependent. I trust cities and their people far less than wild animals.

The purpose of cars is to get people from place to place. That purpose isn't hampered by wearing a seatbelt. There's not even a compromise involved. It's all upside.

The purpose of childhood is produce future adults. That purpose isn't fully served when kids get too far removed from choices, risks, and consequences. Yes, we also need to make sure they stay alive, but survival can't be the only metric parents optimize for or they'll just produce confused old kids trying to live adult lives. (`Big`, but for real and without a magical fix in act 3.)

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#142

Post by michaelt »

skydhash wrote: post #81
darkhorse222 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah there's discussion about this in scientific articles I've read, where at a certain point the social circle exists on these apps, and by a single individual removing themselves they are forced to effectively choose isolation. I experienced it myself when I deleted instagram. I realized that certain friendships that had been thriving on that channel didn't flow as well outside it, via texting for example. So I red…

> I realized that certain friendships that had been thriving on that channel didn't flow as well outside it, via texting for example. I think it's a strain to call that friendship. Communication channels don't matter in case of friendship. I may text, call, email, etc... and it's all good. But it being exclusive to a specific platform is more a social circle or a club as you said.

Eh, yes and no.

Let's say I'm in a group of 6 close friends and every year we have 20 poker nights, 4 barbecues, and attend 2 sports events or concerts.

If I decide I don't like poker and I'm not going to attend the poker nights - my friends will still welcome me to the barbecues and sports events. We'd still be friends.

But they're not going to cancel poker night. And if at poker night Bob tells the other guys how proud he is his daughter Jenny has gotten accepted to the fancy college she applied to - nobody's going to summarise that in an e-mail to me.

We'll still be friends - but I'll be spending more time alone, and the social fabric won't be quite as tightly knit.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#143

Post by qwerpy »

reaperducer wrote: post #126
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #106

Ugh, I threw up a little in my mouth just from the headline. This constant tracking of kids is unnecessary and dangerous. Generations of kids survived without their parents needing to know their location at all times. And yes, I totally admit, some kids (very few actually depending on the locale) didn't survive. But we've traded this false sense of "safety" for kids that are so risk averse it is seriously negatively…

Kids don't need more tech, they need less of it (and FWIW, most adults, too). There was a "looking back" piece of WGN-TV last week about a 10-year-old and a 14-year-old who rode their horses from Missouri to New York City to meet Roosevelt. Alone. All they had with them was canteens, and a map. Then they bought a car with the money they raised along the way, and drove home to Missouri. Alone. Today you can't get an a…

> using a phone, a water bottle, or both as a pacifier

I slowly put my phone down in shame after reading this. But I really love this sentence because of how true it is. Why is it always a phone and a water bottle?

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#144

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

enragedcacti wrote: post #123
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #106

Ugh, I threw up a little in my mouth just from the headline. This constant tracking of kids is unnecessary and dangerous. Generations of kids survived without their parents needing to know their location at all times. And yes, I totally admit, some kids (very few actually depending on the locale) didn't survive. But we've traded this false sense of "safety" for kids that are so risk averse it is seriously negatively…

For better or for worse the ship has definitely sailed on the laissez-faire "be home before sunset" parenting of past generations. Assuming that, its probably a net positive if a product like this can give a parent who would otherwise be full helicopter enough assurance to let their kid have more freedom and independence. Especially if its in lieu of a smartphone.

> For better or for worse the ship has definitely sailed on the laissez-faire "be home before sunset" parenting of past generations.

It's only "sailed" because (some) parents demand to know where their kid is at all times. While I think it's difficult for any individual parent to, say, forbid social media for too long lest they ostracize their kid, saying "I won't track my kids" is a choice any parent can make.

I just pity the kids of these helicopter parents. The youth mental health crisis is no accident.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#145

Post by [deleted] »

enragedcacti wrote: post #123
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #106

Ugh, I threw up a little in my mouth just from the headline. This constant tracking of kids is unnecessary and dangerous. Generations of kids survived without their parents needing to know their location at all times. And yes, I totally admit, some kids (very few actually depending on the locale) didn't survive. But we've traded this false sense of "safety" for kids that are so risk averse it is seriously negatively…

For better or for worse the ship has definitely sailed on the laissez-faire "be home before sunset" parenting of past generations. Assuming that, its probably a net positive if a product like this can give a parent who would otherwise be full helicopter enough assurance to let their kid have more freedom and independence. Especially if its in lieu of a smartphone.

[deleted]

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#146

Post by daymanstep »

wepple wrote: post #120
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #106

Ugh, I threw up a little in my mouth just from the headline. This constant tracking of kids is unnecessary and dangerous. Generations of kids survived without their parents needing to know their location at all times. And yes, I totally admit, some kids (very few actually depending on the locale) didn't survive. But we've traded this false sense of "safety" for kids that are so risk averse it is seriously negatively…

> Generations of kids survived without their parents needing to know their location at all times. And cars used to be safe even without seatbelts! It turns out times change. Before you think I’m disagreeing with the entirety of your comment, my own kids are the most free-range in-the-dirt kids I know. But it’s location-dependent. I trust cities and their people far less than wild animals.

> I trust cities and their people far less than wild animals.

Is this based on statistical reasoning?

Would you really rather leave your kid with say, a wild boar, than with a person randomly chosen out of a city's population?

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#147

Post by drewg123 »

mustang-med wrote: post #121

My partner is on one of the teams responsible for red tape and cost-cutting at Alphabet. After having frequent conversations about past failed projects, I'm surprised this project got the green light. Personally, I don't see this product taking off. As a parent, I think it looks quite lame, and I don't think anyone at Google knows how to break into product areas for kids. I've seen quite a few headlines concerned abo…

Tell her to look at the travel system. At least when I was there a decade ago, they gameified it so that we needed to come in below the average cost for a flight, otherwise we needed VP approval. But if we came in under the average, you could bank the savings and use it to upgrade to first class, etc.

This sounds great on paper: incentivizing employees to reduce travel costs and rewarding them for it! But in reality, you'd have engineers payed substantial fractions of a million dollars in total comp wasting hours booking travel, hoping to bank savings to use on later upgrades.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#149

Post by nytesky »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #106

Ugh, I threw up a little in my mouth just from the headline. This constant tracking of kids is unnecessary and dangerous. Generations of kids survived without their parents needing to know their location at all times. And yes, I totally admit, some kids (very few actually depending on the locale) didn't survive. But we've traded this false sense of "safety" for kids that are so risk averse it is seriously negatively…

In principle I agree we don’t need to track our kids. But when I was I a free range kid in the 80s, there were pay phones at every corner, I carried coins and a calling card so could reach my parents.

Now they have to interact with an adult somewhere to use their personal phone. And the adult has to trust this isn’t a ruffian looking to swipe his phone for kicks.

But a cell capable watch for $200 is pretty compelling; the Apple SE is sync only right, so equivalent apple watch is $350+?

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#150

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

enragedcacti wrote: post #123
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #106

Ugh, I threw up a little in my mouth just from the headline. This constant tracking of kids is unnecessary and dangerous. Generations of kids survived without their parents needing to know their location at all times. And yes, I totally admit, some kids (very few actually depending on the locale) didn't survive. But we've traded this false sense of "safety" for kids that are so risk averse it is seriously negatively…

For better or for worse the ship has definitely sailed on the laissez-faire "be home before sunset" parenting of past generations. Assuming that, its probably a net positive if a product like this can give a parent who would otherwise be full helicopter enough assurance to let their kid have more freedom and independence. Especially if its in lieu of a smartphone.

> For better or for worse the ship has definitely sailed on the laissez-faire "be home before sunset" parenting of past generations.

It was a good [entirety of human history] age. I'll miss it.

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