Being a new parent is one of the most impossibly difficult things to endure in adult life. Sleep deprivation, constant uncertainty, immense and eternal responsibility. At the same time, it is an unrivalled unconditional love. New parents need help…
In our day and age, we turn to technology for help. Gone are the days of “phone-a-friend,” now we “Google.” It should then not be surprising that the advances in monitoring technology and data analysis have made an appearance in the realm of parenting to try and take some of the anxiety and uncertainty out of this immense learning curve.
In the commercial for Sproutling—the first predictive wearable for babies—young parents who could easily pass for me and my husband in a poorly lit room wave as a narrator offers, “This is you.” Two minutes later, a petrified mom and dad have gained confidence in their parenting with the help of Sproutling, the San Francisco startup launched by two new dads. “Be a life-living, sleep-having, baby-raising badass,” it cheers.
Like a Fitbit for grownups, the $299 kidney-shaped band is worn on the ankle and collects 16 distinct measurements every second, reporting the information back in parent-friendly terms to a mobile phone. It tracks light, noise, and temperature in the nursery, as well as baby’s heart rate and sleep position. But what makes Sproutling more than an all-in-one of traditional monitors is its ability to use this data to learn your baby’s unique patterns and behaviors and then predict future ones. So, in theory, a parent could optimize their child.
There are some undeniable advantages to having a small monitor that lets you know your baby is still breathing while they sleep or is awake and needs attention. But there is some suggestion that this reliance on technology telling us every answer to early parenting disengages out natural instincts and in essence, turns our babies into an electronic system (like the tamagotchi of your childhood) to which we respond rather than a human being who we are learning to know and raise.
The big question is where do we draw the line between using technological advances to help daily activities, and the point at which they detach us from our lives.
Check out the full story at The Daily Beast and let us know what you think.
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