Although young children are increasingly familiar with technology, that does not necessarily mean they are comfortable with it. Researchers at the University of Washington Information School found that kids might say technology was “creepy” if they saw it as ambiguous or posing a threat.
“Over the years of working with kids we realized they use the word ‘creepy’ a lot as a way to reject specific technologies,” notes Jason Yip, an assistant professor at UW’s iSchool.
Yip and his fellow researchers designed a series of activities to help children work through these thoughts. This led to the identification of five properties of technologies that contributed to children’s concerns: deception versus transparency; ominous physical appearance; lack of control; unpredictability; and mimicry.
Click here for more details in a UW News story by Sarah McQuate.
