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Bricking your world: Big tech is not your friend

Obsolescence, planned or otherwise, is a fact of life. But it’s arriving faster and faster, and with greater impact. And sometimes tech companies just don’t care.

Steve Mansfield-Devine
Bertuch’s Garden
Published in
8 min readDec 21, 2024

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An AI-generated image of broken toy robots in a city street.

Thousands of children are about to lose one of their best friends. And it’s because the company that sold them those friends is about to switch them off.

The Moxie robot, launched in April 2020, was marketed by its makers, Embodied, as a “safe and engaging animate companion for children designed to help promote social, emotional, and cognitive development.” The website’s catchline is: “Empowering Kids with empathy, learning, and fun”, although that ‘empathy’ part is starting to sound a little hollow.

Although it’s specifically aimed at kids aged from five to 10, this is not your average toy — particularly given the $800 price tag. Embodied had much loftier ambitions for Moxie. It interacted with children in activities such as meditation, reading and drawing, building on themes such as empathy, friendship and respect. According to Embodied, these capabilities were designed on a foundation of “best practices in child development and early childhood education”.

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Bertuch’s Garden
Bertuch’s Garden

Published in Bertuch’s Garden

Piecing together the fragments of our culture, while we still have one — covering visual arts, writing and critical thinking.

Steve Mansfield-Devine
Steve Mansfield-Devine

Written by Steve Mansfield-Devine

Freelance photographer and writer. Author of photography books and two novels. Journalist during daylight hours. More at: https://linktr.ee/zolachrome

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