Amazon’s smart assistant is so integrated into our lives that she has now become the first word of a new generation. When you say Alexa’s name more than you say your own, you’re likely teaching the newest members of your family who is really boss. As one British family can now attest to, that can make for some pretty interesting childhood memories.
Whereas most children of previous generations likely had “mama” or “dada” as their first word, this was not the case for little baby Joe Brady, whose first word was none other than Alexa. Apparently, the infant was attempting to activate the smart speaker in his home — at least, that’s what his parents Lottie Ledger and Mark Brady told Caters News Agency.
“It was one of the few things he could get a reaction from at that time. Alexa would say, ‘Sorry, I didn’t get that,’” Ledger, 21, told the news agency.
Joe was first introduced to the smart speaker at his grandparents’ home in Gateshead, England. But this piece of technology is so transcendent that it can apparently endear itself to 9-month-olds and 90-year-olds alike.
“One day he managed [to activate it],” Ledger continued. “We thought it was funny at first so we encouraged it. He actually said Alexa before he said mum or dad.”
Apparently, it’s not just Joe who is learning to say Alexa before learning much else. As Stefanie Daniel, a mother of three told the Sun Online, her 18-month-old son Zavier also called to the smart assistant before asking for his mother or father. Daniel actually owns four Alexa-enabled devices, and said of the development, “It started a couple of months ago. I couldn’t work out what he was saying. I thought he was saying ‘Lex’ or ‘Lec’ or something like that but then, as his speech improved, I realized it was ‘Alexa.'”
But don’t worry — these kids are quickly learning to say a whole lot more than Alexa (such is the benefit of a tech-enabled generation, we suppose). Joe Brady, for example, is now 18 months old and is apparently “obsessed with cars and all that kind of stuff at the moment,” according to his mom. “He doesn’t really bother with Alexa anymore.”
