【西街观察】儿童手表“社交化”擦边商业伦理

Core Viewpoint - The recent controversy surrounding the "invisible social" features of children's smartwatches, particularly the Xiaotianzi phone watch, raises significant concerns about the appropriateness of social functions for child users, highlighting the potential for gray market activities such as account trading and social media manipulation [1][2]. Industry Overview - The children's smartwatch market has seen rapid growth, with annual sales exceeding 10 million units and a market value in the hundreds of billions of yuan, primarily focusing on safety, real-time communication, and precise location tracking [1]. - The shift towards social features in products designed for children deviates from the original intent of promoting safety and could lead to negative implications for child education and product logic [1]. Ethical Considerations - The introduction of social functionalities in children's products can create a distorted supply-demand chain, fostering inappropriate user demands and leading to the emergence of a chaotic gray supply market [2]. - Companies must exercise caution when targeting the underage market, as the desire for social comparison and self-presentation can pose risks to children's development [2]. Technological Risks - The integration of advanced technologies, such as AI, into children's products must be approached with care, as even adults struggle to discern the accuracy of AI outputs, making it inappropriate to expose children to potentially misleading information [2]. - The focus on precision and safety should remain paramount in children's products, and companies should prioritize ethical considerations over profit motives [2].