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Selling to Kids

Yet another example of new technology developed for misguided reasons. Why does it help to have kids initiate purchase decisions and put them in a confrontational situation with parents who may not approve? 

 Amazon  will now allow developers to offer premium content for purchase in Alexa skills aimed at children. The company on Friday introduced new tools for building skills with in-app purchases that requires the Amazon account holder — typically mom or dad — to approve or decline the requested purchase via a text or email.

 The skills that Amazon is destroying in the process is for kids to interact with parents and others in person, without requiring Alexa to mediate for them, without needing approval via text and email from their parents. Historically, when a kid needed something, it was common to discuss it as a family with others weighing in, trade-offs being discussed and compromises being agreed upon. Sometimes, the request could meet with approval and sometimes not. All of this developed a child's interpersonal skills. This terrible idea only chip away from the humanity of our children and turn them into buying bots that do the bidding of Amazon et al.
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