Viewpoint: Hacking childhood: will future technologies undermine, or enable, optimal early childhood development?

Abstract

It's 2041. Children born during the COVID-19 pandemic are graduating (virtually). For several decades, the internet has been part of everyday adult lives. But now, of course, so much more has changed, including for our children. It's almost impossible to tell exactly when we really lost control. Where once, parents (mainly mothers) were considered primary caregivers, now child rearing is largely the domain of machines guided by the algorithms.