Charlie Brooker gets taste of dystopia after being called 'Alexa' by son
Former Blue Peter presenter and wife of Black Mirror’s creator, Konnie Huq, has said her family had to switch off their Amazon virtual assistant after their son accidentally called her husband, Charlie Brooker, by the name of the device, Alexa, instead of Daddy.
Brooker’s series explores the dystopian consequences and moral dilemmas of an increasingly tech-dependent society.
From a simulated reality that allows people to live on after death to autonomous drone insects capable of instant murder, there is hardly a futuristic technological scenario that Brooker hasn’t envisioned in his award-winning series.
Speaking to the Sunday Times Magazine, Huq said: “We did have Alexa, but we switched her off. One day our son came in and said: ‘Alexa – I mean Daddy,’ and it was oh, my goodness!”
Brooker and Huq aren’t the first parents to restrict the use of IoT (Internet of Things) devices in their household; opinions on how children should engage with the digital world have been divided for many years, with studies showing that children spend twice as long on smartphones as talking to parents alarming many.
Fears that technology is replacing human interaction in young people’s lives were recently fuelled by the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ international congress, where addiction to the online game Fortnite was described as a real disorder. But some researchers are calling these fears misplaced, arguing that these are not facts so much as scaremongering.
In July, a British teenager whose obsession with video games caused years of arguments with his family, won almost £1m after finishing second in the popular Fortnite World Cup. The news came just three months after Prince Harry called for the game to be banned, calling it “irresponsible” and questioning whether it can benefit any household.
The impact of technology on children’s lives remains disputed but at least Brooker may have been provided with easy inspiration for Black Mirror’s next season.