Most girls born after 1960 have probably owned a Barbie and/or a Barbie toy set. It used to look something like this. Today, the Barbie franchise looks a lot different.
Today’s Barbie can literally have a conversation with you. It’s called Hello Barbie. Hello Barbie is expected to appear on store shelves in late 2015. This Barbie uses the child’s voice pattern and Wi-Fi to interact with the child. In a demonstration, an adult woman talks about New York restaurants and even what she should be when she grows up. Yes, an adult woman is literally asking a doll what she should be when she grows up! While this doll is a technological breakthrough, it’s causing intense debate. Those who support Hello Barbie say it will enhance a child’s motor and social skills. Some say it will give lonely children a friend and make it so they don’t have to be lonely. But opponents are nicknaming this new toy ‘surveillance Barbie’. Civil libertarians and privacy right advocates say this doll can be used to spy on a child, or anyone for that matter. They argue Hello Barbie can manipulate the child into something he/she isn’t, or exploit a child’s emotions. There’s an advocacy group called Campaign For a Commercial-Free Childhood that’s even calling on Mattel to take this talking doll off the shelves at once.
I won’t go as for as the Campaign For a Commercial-Free Childhood, but there’s cause for concern. There is just something Big Brother/Orwellian about this doll. I’m afraid of what it might be teaching our children. ?I believe it is Mattel’s intention to make Hello Barbie a fun, educational and enriching experience for children. But in the world we live in, it can easily be twisted into something sinister. It can easily be manipulated into a spy tool, turning family against family and friend against friend. I don’t like the way it’s telling people what they should be when they grow up either. They’re taking children’s imagination away to figure that out for themselves. And what about the social ramifications? This could discourage kids to make real friends with real people. Why even try when you got interactive Barbie at home? So when the child gets grown and enters the real world, he/she won’t have the people skills they need to succeed, especially if they spent the first 18-22 years of life with a doll as their best friend. Isn’t society already coming to that already?