Socks that record heart rate and cots that mimic the womb might promise parents peace of mind — but are the data given to tech firms a fair exchange?
SOURCE - the Taipei Times - find the full article here.
PDF file of vocabulary and questions to be used with this article here.
LEVEL - advanced
VOCABULARY (PAGE 1)
- womb
- mimic
- peace of mind
- disconcerted
- hypnotised
- fragile
- compulsion
- colour spectrum
- cocooned
- substantially
- mediated by
- play around with sth
- little one
- scent
- emit
- nappy
- quantify
- conception
- fertility/fertile
- follow a cue
- have a revelation
- drastically
- wearables
- vie for space
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS (PAGE 1)
- Why does the writer seem to think that young children’s interactions with technology are a little strange?
- Who is Jenny?
- How has Jenny’s mother been tracking her data?
- What kinds of data is the Feed Baby app able to keep a record of?
- What can you do with the information once it has been recorded?
- What does it mean that babies can now be tracked from conception? How is this possible?
- What is Baby Show? What can you find there?
- When did the exhibits on show there start to become more digital?
- What have these new digital products replaced?
VOCABULARY (PAGE 2)
- oxygen saturation
- become a theme in/for
- spectrum
- replicate
- lull into
- truism
- mortality rate
- plummet
- precarious
- rust belt
- rash
- omnipresence
- mundane
- geolocation
- anonymous
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS (PAGE 2)
- What is Bluebell? Who made it and why?
- How does Owlet differ from Bluebell?
- Why has Owlet’s popularity increased?
- Where is all the money for new technology in this area coming from?
- It is a truism that anxious people make good consumers. Why is this?
- What other truisms can you think of?
- How does Kurt Workman compare becoming a parent to getting a driving license?
- How has parenthood changed in the past 100 years?
- What parental fears are digital media helping to comfort?
- What happens to the data collected by the Owlet sock?
VOCABULARY (PAGE 3)
- algorithm
- automated
- intuition
- newborn
- worthwhile trade-off
- gamify
- tendency
- hours logged
- categorically
- do sth. For its own sake
- devise
- wriggle
- quell
- choking fit
- situational anxiety
- ambient anxiety
- postpartum/postnatal
- proximity
- cognizant
- tethered
- embedded in
- qualms
- implacable
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS (PAGE 3)
- What are some are some of the positive applications of the Owlet data?
- Why might it be able to help save money?
- Why doesn’t Mary Wahl use Owlet? What else does she use?
- Why does she rely on an apps and YouTube more than on her friends and family?
- Why isn’t she worried about companies collecting her child’s data?
- How do apps gamify parenting?
- How did Owlet change the way parents interact with their children?
- What were the positive and negative effects seen in the study of families using Owlet?
- What do we have to give up in order to have a sense of control?
VOCABULARY (PAGE )
- eczema
- catch my drift
- pedometer
- unsubstantiated
- discrepancy
- compelled to
- sick to my stomach
- go cold turkey
- whip out your phone
- resolve to do sth.
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS (PAGE 4)
- Why will parents still buy this kind of technology even if they are worried about recording so much data?
- What prompted Romi Matthews to develop Bluebell?
- What problems did he encounter while using the traditional baby monitors?
- How is Bluebell different to other devices currently on the market?
- How does he think that the data can help parents?
- What things started to make Aoife question her use of digital tracking?
- How is her parenting style different to the way it used to be?
EXTRA QUESTIONS
A good source can be found here.
A good source can be found here.
- What kinds of things do you, your friends and family members track?
- Do you know where the information goes? Do you care?
- It is unlikely that we will stop tracking this kind of information, what do you think we will be using this information for in the future?
- If you had a child, how positive would you feel about the technologies mentioned in the article?