I was at dinner the other night with Janet and Theo (who is nine.) Theo really wanted to go home, but Janet didn't want to leave to walk her the block and a half from the restaurant. So she took Peter's cellphone, called herself, and then handed her cellphone to Theo and sent her on her way. Janet sat at the table and talked to Theo as she walked herself home. Cool.

Extending the ability of parents to keep an eye (or ear) on their kids seems like such a natural use of technology that it got me thinking. Is the wireless webcam implanted behind your child's eyes only a matter of time? That would be really weird. Obviously a big adjustment to our sense of individuality would follow. Coming of age might be marked by literally getting your parents out of your head. I can imagine the fights over when this time should come. The future version of when is your daughter old enough to date might be something like: when is she old enough to not wirelessly stream her life to Mom or Dad.

"Don't you turn your eyes off on me young lady!"

Note I'm not endorsing this scenario, only saying that it seems unlikely not to come about. In fact, weblogs are like a low bandwidth opt-in version of the mandatory life sharing described above. I know my mother still keeps track of me through this page. And I like that. Having it built in from birth is a different story though. But it might not seem so different in the future.
- jim 12-14-2002 7:03 pm

i would like to have a webcam behind my eyes. then i could replay any moment i wanted. i could have a remote control installed in my arm to stop and rewind. i would never forget anything. i could have a menu listing of every day with a short summary of it. or do a keyword search, like "drunk night" and then figure out what happened to my skirt on new years!! what a great idea jim!
- pamela 12-15-2002 2:10 am


i could have a usb plug coiling out of my head to take snapshots of my life and post them on my weblog!
- pamela 12-15-2002 2:21 am


Yeah, this is what I think about. Good thing I have a few more years to iron the bugs out of the software before the cranial ports appear.
- jim 12-15-2002 2:22 am


you can post your cell phone art on deviantart.com.
- pamela 12-15-2002 2:46 am


i wonder if your webcam could record hallucinations.
- pamela 12-15-2002 2:49 am


It is a little different to reenter an adult child's life in this blog way. I like it too. And I am happy that Jim and his friends allow me to. I can appreciate Janet's practical way of "holding on and letting go". That is the balance parents walk every day. There were many times Jim, his sister and I would have taken advantage of technology if we had access to it. But can you imagine the impact on childbearing this would have? Bad enough a parent has to do what is possible. No one would consider being a mother if she had to have constant video of all the "stuff" a kid goes through. Would she have to give up her gainful employment? Stop watching soaps, think of the economy!
- jeanne 12-16-2002 2:24 pm


oh it already here. crib moniters allow for an ambient or periferal track keeping of kids. it basicly amplifies a cry that summons the care taker. clearly implants are out of the question. and how about those free "family minutes" (sons first date bowling) "let her win", "tell her she looks great". dont worry about the economy, it will take care of it self. coming from the generation gap generation im more worried about privacy rights issues and getting these kids grown up and independent by the time they turn 18.
- bill 12-16-2002 7:40 pm


LOL!

MOM: Dear, he's lurching around erratically now. I think that piece of paper he ate is affecting him. Oh, my gosh, all his friends are starting to take their clothes off. Those girls are too young to be doing that!

DAD: Lemme see, lemme see. Dammit, give me the headset!
- tom moody 12-16-2002 8:06 pm


I agree wit Bill, this sort of technology is already here. That's why it won't seem so weird when it gets really weird. We'll ease into it.

Did you know you can implant a gps receiver under the skin of your pet? Then you can locate them wherever they waner off to. At least one company (w/ dubious credentials) is promoting this for children. I think disney world provides this tech in wristband form.

As for the full video feed, I really do think this will happen. Military first, but I think there will be family applications. It's not like the parents have to monitor the stream. Just the idea that they might be watching. Like the techno version of god/santa claus sees all, so don't be bad.

Again, I'm not saying I support this, just that I think it will happen. But it won't be all bad. In some ways it will give more freedom because kids can be more often out of their parents presence (even if never out of their tele-presence.)

And it won't be just parents and kids. Maybe "going steady" will involve granting full remote access priveleges to a significant other. There are a few people in te world I would let in (but then I'm a weirdo with a weblog.)

Oh, and can we keep this clean? We're hanging out with my mom here.
- jim 12-16-2002 8:24 pm


Jim, that's my point! (Maybe you're joking?) Once this particular genie's out of the bottle, how do you create boundaries that let "clean" behavior slide through and/or block stuff parents wouldn't/shouldn't know? Sex and drugs are rites of passage for many kids.

Jeanne, sorry if I offended. I always try to make my arguments in the most exaggerated way.
- tom moody 12-16-2002 9:08 pm


(Yeah, I was joking.)

The "boundaries" don't have to be drawn in response to the technology. They are already drawn. For instance, and I assume it was probably the same for all of us, when I was a teenager there were some parents who knew everything we did, and others who knew less, and others who didn't know anything. Kids are good at identifying which grown ups are open to their actions. (Note I'm not saying that permissive parents are better than more restrictive parents, or the opposite.)

So it will be with this tech too. The kind of kids who tell their parents about all their experimenting will continue to share this information. Perhaps in real time in my imagined future. Kids who hide things from their parents will have to develop new techniques for hiding. But kids are good at this.

The technology just takes us deeper into where we always already are. Now if I could just figure out what this 'deeper' axis represents. It has something to do with speed. Like it's the same loop we are making, but instead of a loop it's a spiral, and every time around it gets tighter and we go faster, bringing everything nearer to hand. And then maybe at some point we reach just a point, and then everything happens at once, and everybody knows everything about everybody else (always already.)

Or maybe we're on an asymptote and we just approach the eternal infinite moment without actually getting there. I'm not sure of course. But I think we are extruding our knowledge of this infundibular course into the the ever more connecting technology we are building.

Or something like that. No doubt Alex could do more justice to this sort of idea.
- jim 12-16-2002 9:29 pm





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