Your toys are listening to you

My son is asking our Echo to tell him a joke. To be more specific, he is asking it to tell him a good joke. The joke it repeats doesn't live up to his standards, and after a few more attempts, he complains that "she doesn't even know a good joke from a bad one."

He kisses me and scoots off to play.

I try to teach my son about using devices smartly: He has limited screentime, he knows not to click on ads, he can't download apps himself, and he hasn't figured out that he can ask the Echo whatever he wants (he only asks for jokes, music and weather).

The subject I haven't really gone into depth with him is on his devices tracking him. I am not sure why I haven't yet. As a kid, he is pretty used to being monitored all the time, but this topic should be handled delicately: At least one study shows that children are a little more wary of toys connected to the Internet.

Frankly, I am OK with that. I think we should all be a little cautious before we put our lives out there for anyone to search. It's like I try to teach my son: Some things are good to share; other things you should keep to yourself.

Do your children play with toys that are connected to the Internet? Do they play with them differently? Tell me in the comments.