TLC @ McGill University

Technology, Learning, & Cognition

Children’s Understanding and Use of Voice-Assistants: Opportunities and Challenges


Book chapter


Judith H. Danovitch, Adam K. Dubé, Cansu Oranç, Jessica Szczuka, Svetlana Yarosh
Dimitri A. Christakis, Lauren Hale, Handbook of Children and Screens, Springer, 2024 Dec 11, pp. 619-625


Cite

Cite

APA   Click to copy
Danovitch, J. H., Dubé, A. K., Oranç, C., Szczuka, J., & Yarosh, S. (2024). Children’s Understanding and Use of Voice-Assistants: Opportunities and Challenges. In D. A. Christakis & L. Hale (Eds.), Handbook of Children and Screens (pp. 619–625). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-69362-5_84


Chicago/Turabian   Click to copy
Danovitch, Judith H., Adam K. Dubé, Cansu Oranç, Jessica Szczuka, and Svetlana Yarosh. “Children’s Understanding and Use of Voice-Assistants: Opportunities and Challenges.” In Handbook of Children and Screens, edited by Dimitri A. Christakis and Lauren Hale, 619–625. Springer, 2024.


MLA   Click to copy
Danovitch, Judith H., et al. “Children’s Understanding and Use of Voice-Assistants: Opportunities and Challenges.” Handbook of Children and Screens, edited by Dimitri A. Christakis and Lauren Hale, Springer, 2024, pp. 619–25, doi:10.1007/978-3-031-69362-5_84.


BibTeX   Click to copy

@inbook{judith2024a,
  title = {Children’s Understanding and Use of Voice-Assistants: Opportunities and Challenges},
  year = {2024},
  month = dec,
  day = {11},
  pages = {619-625},
  publisher = {Springer},
  doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-69362-5_84},
  author = {Danovitch, Judith H. and Dubé, Adam K. and Oranç, Cansu and Szczuka, Jessica and Yarosh, Svetlana},
  editor = {Christakis, Dimitri A. and Hale, Lauren},
  booktitle = {Handbook of Children and Screens},
  month_numeric = {12}
}

Abstract
As voice-driven digital assistants become more popular and widely available, it is essential to understand how children think about and use these devices. Because voice-assistants (VAs) share characteristics with humans, such as interaction via natural language, they hold unique appeal to young children as both information sources and social partners. However, these shared characteristics with humans also potentially make it more difficult for children to understand how VAs work and to evaluate the information that they provide. Given the recent advent of VAs and rapid improvements in the technologies that they rely on, future research should focus on how VA use impacts children’s social cognition and learning, and how to design VAs that children can use safely and effectively. Recommendations are provided for how caregivers, educators, developers, and policymakers can support children’s use of VAs in ways that promote their social and cognitive development, while protecting them from potential dangers.