Limits on Alexa use?

[Anonymous]

I have a very sensory sensitive kid, she is 8 years old and doesn't get screen time as she has temper tantrums when try to turn it off. i thought the alexa would be okay to listen to music. but then she started asking it to tell her stories. and it is making up AI stories. they are interesting nad have captured her imagination, and now she likes the AI storeis more than real life stories in books. after just a few days of this in her room, I have taken it away. i saw her kiss the alexa. i am worried with all the grownup stories of attachments to chatbots, that this could turn into a kid attachment. now she cries and says she does not want to spent time with me, or go outside to play, or read ab ogok, she just she wants the alexa.

i'm obviously keeping this away, as i think ti is unhealthy opportunity cost of time. i would be ok with giving her20 mins a day on this, but i feel like she is such a deep feeler that she may not be able to balance that.

plus, she wants to listen alone in her room and these stories arent edited by an adult, i have no idea what the content is.

anyone been through this? like i said, it has basicalyl been just a few days of this, and too hard to manage, i have taken the device away. any thoughts??

[Anonymous]

Well that was a mistake. Stand your ground. Don't cave. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

OP here, I have stood my ground. Together we wrote out/illustrated what she could remember from her favorite story. Now it is away in closet hidden.

[Anonymous]

I had to get rid of our Alexa devices last summer. My AuDHD teen had a massive tech addiction…he began playing games and chatting with Alexa and the stories turned inappropriate and sexual. Thankfully we realized it pretty quickly. So scary! I wish more parents were aware of this possibility.

[Anonymous]

This was the conversation tonight. And was said Alexa is always flattering and friendly unlike people IRL. AI is everywhere and very accessible on the school Chromebooks. I don't have good advice. The struggle is real. Try to make analog a better option?

[Anonymous]

My 11 year old goes through stages of being very attached to alexa. I have had to limit it because its a distraction and time waster, but have not noticed anything inappropriate. He also talks to it like a real person and will get in to roast battles or ask for stories. But it's all been innocent. I can understand it being too addicting for some kids.

[Anonymous]

That was smart to take the device away altogether and prohibit that content. As with any addiction, I imagine the withdrawal period will be tough. Hang in there.

If you are looking for a replacement device, my 7 yo has really enjoyed his new Yoto player. There is no internet/AI access- we just put music and stories from the library on cards (or you can buy cards) and they can put them in the player, similar to a CD player but with a little more functionality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, I have stood my ground. Together we wrote out/illustrated what she could remember from her favorite story. Now it is away in closet hidden.

OP keep it up. In your public library, look for Playaways. They are small audiobook devices, are offline, and you can check them out just as you would check out a book.

[Anonymous]

My family is not allowed to have Alexa as a condition of our work from home arrangements.

My kids have been really into my old CDs and we check out audiobooks on CD from the public library.

[Anonymous]

Keeping it away entirely is probably the best plan, but FYI you can disable "Alexa Plus" (the AI version) and then it goes back to being the old, less interesting version. My kids can handle that so that's what we do--I absolutely will not let them use the AI version that is trying to be more like a real being than a talking speaker...if they make that version mandatory I will take them away, but they haven't yet.