Let the Children Play. Smart Toys and Child Vulnerability

While smart toys’ features offer undoubtedly exciting and educational opportunities, at the same time they raise several questions, mainly in terms of privacy, children’s agency and market regulation, that all relate to the condition - concrete or potential, as further discussed below - of children's own vulnerability. Therefore, this essay focuses on the concept of vulnerability and explores the vulnerable condition that arises from the use of these tools specifically in children belonging to the 5-10 age range group. This age range is the result of a precise methodological choice based on the two dimensions of this work, that are the taxonomy and the case-based one, respectively. The chapter is organized as follows: the first part outlines the concept of vulnerability by dwelling on the inherent-situational taxonomy referred to, continuing with the analysis of the two cases concerning smart toys and the issues underlying them, also with the support of the intersectionality theory. The second part deals with the responses of the different actors involved to the concerns raised, suggesting that a child-centred approach, always oriented toward the fulfilment of the best interest of the child, not only is possible but imperative.