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A few high school stories include infant simulators or robot babies, but no-one had tested the effectiveness of the product, until now.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/08/26/robot_babies_dont_st...
"The dolls are used in educational settings to teach those about to have kids what it will be like once they have a real one. The idea is to give users a taste of life as a parent, complete with the drudgery, odours and interrupted sleep an infant offers, in the hope that they postpone parenthood."
Comments
It's kind of hard to put
It's kind of hard to put someone off using a robotic doll when despite the whole miserable experience it's still to them just a robotic doll. It might have some impact on a few girls but it's not going to overcome the peer pressure nor the stigma that goes along with sex.
There are some things that the dolls can't take into account: those with siblings or nieces and nephews who are or were infants have experienced what the doll will put them through already. You can't scare a teen who knows it all too well.Same goes with those who are going to do the opposite of what people tell them to do despite knowing the consequence, you can't fully squelch teen rebellion especially at an age where hormones rage and tempers start to flair up.
I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime
I think
The real problem is you know you hand the robot back in and you're done. Having a baby (and keeping it) changes your life starting about two months after conception and continues until 7 months and 18 years later... and even then may not yet...
Both of my sisters seriously discussed getting pregnant so they could go on welfare and get away from what they saw as an oppressive home environment. My only girlfriend (kissing) wanted me to get her pregnant so she could go on welfare and get away from her family...
I'm not saying welfare causes babies... but a large segment of teen pregnancies aren't an accidental slip in birth control or naivete' of the girl. Young girls are very aware of their reproductive system and how the world blames their upbringing/home environment and rushes to their aid instead of censuring them.
I'm just saying the rise in teen pregnancies isn't lack of education... its societal. I saw a news article about a school with number of times [8x comes to mind but I have no sources on it] the "normal" rate of teen births above any in their state... They found that the girls had a pregnancy club. They were racing each other to see who could become full members (bun in the oven). More startling than this was they weren't the only school with such a club...
These girls see pregnancy as a passage to more positive attention from adults. Whether economic or social or both these girls are for the a large part...planning to get the way they are.
Oh there are exceptions... but I've seen these things first hand as well as through news media...
Dayna.
ps. I wonder if it wouldn't be something boys have to do... with no set end period. Specially if we could convince parents to raise their kids with a firm grasp on the responsibilities of the father of a baby.
Exactly my point, unless the
Exactly my point, unless the teens have baby siblings or nieces and nephews they don't know the drawbacks of raising a child until too late. This is what the simulators are supposed to do but even the most high tech simulator isn't going to go against the fact that they know it's just a robot and they return it after x amount of days or weeks.
And I agree with your whole point, I grew up in a poor city knowing a few students who have gotten pregnant as young as 15 including my best friend's sister. They knew that if they had to keep the baby they would have benefits coming to them, just as they themselves may be that kind of child- born to a teen mother who went on welfare. The most famous cluster of teen pregnancies, the so-called "pregnancy pact" happened 20 miles up the coast from me in Gloucester, MA.
I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime
Honestly. I would see such a story as a nightmare.
This story was done in the movie, A.I. The film is so sad most people do not talk about that movie.
The movie in content is heartbreaking. Eventually, the robot child would likely get discarded. And if the robot can actually think and feel, then that would be discarding what is ethically a child. That is wrong. Also, the robot would not have rights, and the robot would not be able to grow up.
This entire story concept is a whole ball of sadness and tragedy with no room for growth.
This is also why I am not a fan of virtual reality stories, because eventually the plug is pulled and there is heartbreak in some way.
Neural Network in Cell phone
The ad on that page talked about Neural Networks in phones, which gave me an idea about a cell phone that makes owners into women
Quite a scary experiment
...to do on teenagers.
Every parent knows that having a child is hell, but also probably the best thing they have ever done. When balancing the scale, most believe the latter vastly outweighs the former.
I can well imagine that being turned into semi permanent artificial parents is as addictive as the real thing.
Incidentally, I came across this news story just after publishing Proxy Pregnancy
http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/story-wo-comments/62915/proxy-... rather than before. Talk about life imitating art!
I also see an addtioanl sets of problems.
Others around the teen not taking it seriously. Assuming the teen in question actually tries to do it right, what about consequences of sibling, friends, not-friends, and even parents, either through carelessness and not treating it as real, or deliberate sabotage, ruining the simulation. The teen actually doing the simulation is no the only one who is likely to see it as not real.
I can see parents just pushing their own priorities, "Stop playing wit that Doll, and do ____!"
Enemies deliberately sabotaging it, or sibling doing so thinking its a good prank.
Just plain carelessness by all household members, you can Not actually hold it 24/7.
Putting it down safely requires a safe environment to do so, the teen ma not have control of that.
.
Then you have the teens who will not take it seriously, this can means several different things, and covers quite a lot of different attitudes.
Treat it just as school work, and that can mean a lot of different things in it self.
Think it is just stupid social experiment and just dumb playacting or pretending.
Just plain think/feel. "it is Not real baby, only Real Ones count".
See it as playing with a doll, and feel stupid or embarrassed doing it, preferring to fail instead.
>i< ..:::