Abstract
According to the Statistics Canada report from 2019, when it comes to the amount of time spent online, Canada beats out every other country in the world. This has likely been amplified due to the stay-at-home order caused by the COVID-19 crisis, hence why the new Bill C-11 will strengthen the current policies defending Canadians from corporate digital overstep. Alexa, Please: Babysit My Child will explore, analyze, and evaluate Amazon's neuro-capitalistic technologies, specifically pertaining to the technologies made for child-use. Neuro-capitalism is dangerous as it speaks to controlling the mind through the current hyper-technological society. Jurisdictional complexity surrounding A.I. and cybersecurity can be mitigated by government-funded education. Therefore, my research explores the question: From a neuro-capitalistic & digital-colonial standpoint, to what extent are Amazon's child-targeted technologies' (such as Kindle 4 Kids) consistent with the privacy policies of the new, proposed Bill C-11? This policy analysis will consist of three sections—first, an analysis of Amazon's Kindle 4 Kids Terms and Conditions (Site 1). Second, an evaluation of Bill C-11’s ability to protect children from the pernicious aspects of neuro-capitalism (Site 2). Lastly, a compare and contrast section of the two entities, ending with a discussion of the findings. Particularly during the COVID-19 crisis, we must be sure that the Government of Canada is doing everything in their power to aid the youth of the country that spends the most time online and the most time with their babysitter: Alexa.
Highlights
Background informationAlexa, Please Babysit My Child is a developing project that will assess the relationship between Canadian children and one of the most popular interfaces in the world: Amazon's Alexa through the prism of digital colonialism
By using digital colonialism as a conceptual framework, Alexa, Please Babysit My Child hopes to use Canada’s new Bill C-11 as a case study to explore the effects of digital colonialism on Canadian children
It will apply a two-fold strategy called Critical Policy Discourse to understand the political-technological intersection of digital colonialism discourse, Amazon’s Kindle for Kids terms and conditions, and the Government of Canada’s Bill C11
Summary
Please Babysit My Child is a developing project that will assess the relationship between Canadian children and one of the most popular interfaces in the world: Amazon's Alexa through the prism of digital (or data) colonialism. The same visual conjured by a 2000s baby could be imagined very differently with all of the lights off, showcasing a child using Kindle for Kids instead because Alexa can read to them in place of their parents. The significance of this is that it demonstrates how Amazon's child-targeted technologies take over the roles of legal guardians. This transition minimally speaks to J.R Whitson's theory called "the gamification of labour," which is the act of gaming spaces that were recently not associated with gaming (2013). One of those spaces would be parenting/reading, which is why I believe Kindle 4 Kids may be the best technology to choose
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Stream: Interdisciplinary Journal of Communication
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
