Don’t Worry If Your Kids Aren’t Polite to Alexa

Last week I was typing away, working on a story, when a noisy video ad popped up on my screen. “Shut up already!” I growled. Suddenly, Siri, who I didn’t realize I had activated, chimed in with the tone of an older sister. “That’s not nice!” she admonished me. I felt kind of … strange. I was being uncivilized, which I shouldn’t be with any entity. But did I just hurt a machine’s feelings? Should I apologize?

Of course, I can see the absurdity of fretting about a machine’s feelings. I’m an adult.

But in recent years many researchers began to ask how kids relate to the omnipresence of voice-controlled smart devices, interactive , and even teaching assistants who help caregivers . Yet there’s a catch to how these gadgets interact with people that may have particularly pronounced effects on children who are still learning the basic rules of social etiquette.