Kids and the rise of intelligent surroundings

The quantified self movement isn’t new. Technology gives us already for many years the possibility the monitor and analyse our surroundings. Now we see this movement come to our bodies. We move towards a world where technology gives us information by means of analyzing pre time data. The amount of data we create is on an exponential rise. Till 2003 humanity created 5 billion gigabyte of digital information. In 2013 we will do that every 10 minutes. And 90% of the digital data we have created, is created in the past 2 years.

Beside the exponential growth in data we also see a rising trust in technology. More and more people believe that science and technology will solve all our problems. But of course this is not true. Yes, we see a lot of opportunities because of technological possibilities. Just think about the shift from a reactive world towards a preventive world. Technology will know things much sooner then we will know. This preventive and intelligent technological driven world is also being used for our children. Great of course but let us not unlearn to listen to the signals nature has given us as a parent. Our intuition and the human body are the best sensor which do exist.

We see the rise of apps and sensors which monitor our children from the day they are born. It even goes so far that scientist develop an app which is able to analyse a baby’s cry and can tell what’s wrong with the baby. Teddy bears are becoming really intelligent and analyse real time your child’s health. If there is something wrong they contact a doctor. Just think of Teddi Knows and Teddy the guardian. But also your childs clothes and diapers are becoming intelligent (Baby Mimo). If it;s about their health, mental health or body new technologies help us parents to analyses and even predict almost everything.

The down side of these developments is that we, as a parent, could unlearn to listen to our own feelings and intuition. A great book is written about this technological solution for everything. To save everything click here (Evgeny Morozov). As a human being we are already merged with technology. We are becoming cyborgs. We create a world where the smartest person in the room will be the room itself. Technology is becoming more dominant in our lives and we become more dependent of it. Let’s still use technology as a facilitator of living better and more human. Let’s not create a world where technology dominates us.

Movements like the quantified self can provide us with better information and even pre time information. We have to learn to deal with these new possibilities and it will result in fundamental changes in how we use our current healthcare systems for example. It will also change the relationship between parent and child. Technology will become a big player in this relationship where parents are able to invade in the privacy of their children. Parents of the tomorrow will get a personal healthcare dashboard of the children. And even children will get them off their parents. Will the information which they share only be health related or will it be more. And what will the future be off our intuition as a parent? Will technology will make this also absolute?