Why you should be polite to Alexa
I’m troubled by how often I see adults barking rudely at their voice assistants.
I believe it’s important for us to be polite to virtual assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google Home. Not because they deserve it, but because we do.
Why? Whenever we speak, we reinforce neural pathways. When you’re rude to Alexa, you’re making it just a little easier to be rude at that customer service rep on the other end of the phone.
It’s healthier to practice politeness, especially when children are modeling their behavior after ours.
Teaching our kids to be polite to AI voice assistants has nothing to do with whether the AI is truly conscious. A shrub is not conscious; but if I saw my son stripping leaves off it I’d tell him to stop. Modeling respect and compassion starts with the smallest things.
It’s also notable that most voice assistants come pre-installed with higher-pitched voices, which most people associate with a female personality. Rachel Withers wrote in her 2018 Slate article “I Don’t Date Men Who Yell At Alexa”:
The way people speak to Alexa, Cortana, and Siri already changes the way I see them. It matters how you interact with your virtual assistant, not because it has feelings or will one day murder you in your sleep for disrespecting it, but because of how it reflects on you.
Regarding being murdered by our virtual assistant, I’m not so sure how safe we are. If nothing else, Pascal’s Wager suggests it might just be a good idea to be polite to the AI today. Just in case.
