"Hey Siri! What happened to our manners? Could YOU and others like you be to blame?" I've started rethinking my approach with Siri, especially after overhearing my husband's conversations with Alexa...
A Conversation with Alexa
"Alexa, please set timer for 12 minutes."
"12 minute timer starting now."
"Thank you."
The blue font in the conversation above is a typical example of how my husband, Tim, speaks to Alexa who we have sitting on our kitchen counter. I remember giggling the first time I heard him speaking to her. My southern gentleman always uses his manners, even with our servant robotsš. Then it started to get me thinking...
Becoming Parents
Last week I shared on social media that after a 9 month process that would make a CIA clearance look easy, Tim and I have finally been approved for domestic infant adoption through Bethany Christian Services! Therefore, all things parenting have been on my mind...a lot.
I'm sure many parents and teachers have had this thought before but for some reason it is just now dawning on me how our virtual assistants could possibly be causing all of us to lose our manners. Heck, my most popular blog post, 10 Things Siri Can Do for Teachers and Students, is all about using voice commands in the classroom. But maybe I need to rethink this!
We all know how impressionable children and students are at any age. We have one of the most important roles as adults to model appropriate behaviors with the hopes that our children and students mimic our behavior. However, we need to remember that they will mimic both good and poor behaviors. If they hear us ordering our servant robots around and getting mad when we don't receive the information we need right away, then what is preventing them from acting the same way? These types of behaviors could and DO easily transfers over to interactions with other humans. I'm already seeing this commanding tone in social media messages and emails I receive FROM ADULTS. "I need you to send me..." or "How do you do this..." or "I need this...". ZERO salutation, introduction or "thank you" to conclude. But that is an entirely different blog postš.
My New Approach
Therefore, I am now challenging myself to use my manners when ordering around Siri and Alexa. I'm putting myself through Virtual Assistant Bootcamp so when my future children overhear their mother requesting a favor or information from her robot, they too will remember their manners when it comes time to speak, whether that be to a robot or human.
"Alexa, please help me remember my manners."-The Techie Teacher®
"Alexa, please help me remember my manners."-The Techie Teacher®
Google Home Assistant (update!)
Since writing this post, I have learned that Google's Home Assistant addresses the issue of minding your manners. Last November Google rolled out the Pretty Please feature that causes Google Home devices to respond positively to to polite phrases like "Please" and "Thank you". It will even prompt children to say the magic word when they give a command! You can read more HERE. Maybe I need to switch to a Google Homeš¤