Podcast: How the internet of things may make parents less worried but more neurotic

Parenting is tough. Not only are babies incapable of listening to your rationale pleas for sleep, but they are tiny, fragile things that require your constant vigilance and protection. Or at least that’s the messaging around parenting in the U.S. To support new parents an entire industry of products from baby monitors to sensors placed under the mattress have emerged. So of course someone decided to connect them.

In the latest podcast, I speak with Chris Bruce, the CEO of Sproutling, a company building connected devices that aim to help people be better parents. The first product is a sensor-packed ankle bracelet that tells parents how their baby is while it sleeps. It’s like the next generation of baby monitor without the static or murky video. In the interview we discuss how the internet of things could change parenting and when to give up surveillance of your kids. I also admit to keeping my newborn in my closet while I tried to get some sleep.

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Show notes:
Host: Stacey Higginbotham

The basics on Sproutling’s connected baby monitor
What happens when the quantified self meets parenting?
How data from connected devices could change our understanding of babies.
This makes helicopter parenting looks positively neglectful. When do we take the sensors off our kids?

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