Every once in a while, increasing in frequency I see a tweet of a parent stating something like my kid was trying to talk to Alexa in the amusement park or a kid asking for the weather in a tent at camp or concerned with Alexa being alone in the house. Here’s one example of a tweet by Adva Levin:

On raising #VoiceFirst kids: 4yo rides a bike for the first time. Picking up some speed downhill, starts saying "Bike, stop. Bike, stop. Bike, stop!!!!"

Pull the damn brake kid, it's not an Alexa bike🚴‍♀️🤣

— Adva Levin (@PretzelVoice) June 30, 2018

This generation of kids is growing expecting everything in their lives to be powered by voice. I call them Generation V. Listen to them, to how they interact with Alexa and Google Home: there’s a lesson or two that I infer from their behaviour: voice is the human interface, is the most natural way to interact with devices. Way before they can read, do math or know biology, kids can interact with smart speakers, and send them commands, but for them, they are talking with them, they are creating a connection a relationship. It makes them laugh, learn new things and play. They are growing used to it. And there are already some articles and studies discussing whether kids should talk to smart speakers politely or not, whether should they think if they have feelings. We can discuss one of those articles later, but reality is they expect objects to also receive commands and help them navigate this life. This is the true world of voice-first. The kids are living it. Are you designing your voice applications like a kid? You should.

Thanks for listening. Happy 4th of July for our US listeners that we know won’t be listening tomorrow.