Don’t Fall for Fake
About those bots
Goals
Learn about this interactive technology showing up in more and more places in students’ lives.
Identify experiences with bots of various kinds.
Analyze the impact these technologies can have on daily life – both positive and negative.
Let's talk
More and more people use bots these days. Have you heard that word used? Some people call them “chatbots” or “virtual assistants.” They’re used for a gazillion things: playing games, checking the weather, answering questions, getting directions, notifying you when time’s up, etc. Sometimes they have a human name, other times their names just describe what they do, such as Dog A Day, a bot that sends a photo of a dog every day. Bots can be on mobile devices, online, in cars, or they can be special devices people keep in different rooms of their home. Let’s chat about what experiences your children have had with bots and get our thinking about them rolling. Here are some questions for us to consider:
- Do you know what a bot is?
- How many of you have talked to a bot? On what kind of device?
- Who wants to tell us what that’s like?
- What do you think bots work best for (examples to get people thinking: ask for the weather report, get the news, play a game, ask for information)?
- Bots use what’s called AI, or artificial intelligence. In a way, AI learns from what you ask so it can get better at helping you. To do this, bots sometimes “remember,” or record, what you ask and say. Does that make you think about what you’d tell a bot? If so, what would you tell it and what kind of information would you keep to yourself?
- Do you think it’s like talking to a human being? How is it and how is it not like that?
- How do people you know treat or talk to their bots?
- How would you talk to it? Would you be kind, or would you sometimes yell at it?
- Is it okay for people to yell at bots? Why or why not? (Is it like practicing a certain kind of interaction?)
- Sometimes really little kids think bots are humans. What would you tell a little sister, brother, or cousin to help them understand what they’re chatting with?
- If bots can learn from us humans, can you think of something we shouldn’t say because you wouldn’t want your bot to learn it? (Hint: Think back to the activities in “Share with Care” and talk about how they relate to this.)
- Is it possible to classify information as “good or bad” or “real or fake”? How can we try to answer these questions?
Note: Try to keep the discussion open-ended; this activity is designed to engage critical thinking, not deliver any conclusions.
Activity
After the discussion, on your home devices, search for images of bots and information (including news coverage) about them. Search terms might include “bots,” “chatbots,” “digital assistants,” or “virtual assistants.” Decide in family if the information is good and write a one-paragraph summary about
Takeaway
Critical thinking is one of the best, most long-lasting “tools” we have for keeping our tech use positive – and the great thing is that it’s a tool that gets better every time we use it. Thinking out loud together is a powerful, fun way to use and improve that tool
Vocabulary
Passwords are the foundation of the security of your online data, teach your child to use strong passwords from a young age. With young children it is best you know what their password(s) are as well. Teach them how to make strong passwords, and choose some together. Explain to your child that passwords are very personal, and that they should never share them, not even with their best friend.
As your child gets older, he/she needs more trust and privacy. Parents have to respect this privacy but they also have to be the person your child trusts and who teaches them to protect their privacy on the Internet. If you want to monitor what they do on social media, you can use parental controls, but always do this in joint consultation and show your child you trust him/her.
Your mobile device and computer have built-in features to make your children's internet use safer. Parental controls are enabled as follows:
Android: Settings > Users > Add user or profile > Restricted profile.
iPhone: Settings > General > Restrictions > enable Restrictions.
Mac OSX: Apple menu > System preferences > Parental controls.
Windows 10: Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Defender > Windows Defender security centre > Family options.
Monitoring tools also exist (software for parental controls such as Net Nanny, Screen Time or Norton Family) which help you to monitor (or restrict) the time your children spend online and which sites they visit. These tools allow you to restrict access to certain sites or content. Bear in mind they are not a miracle cure for parents, the most important thing is to explain to your children how and why you use these tools, so that it doesn't feel as if you don't trust them or worse still, are violating their privacy.