One of the weapons used to comfort children in the past, tired of playing with toys, was the movies. In the 2000s we had computers, smartphones and the world of games. Now another device has been introduced, the smart speaker: wireless devices with voice-control which will take commands to do things.
One may receive for the asking anything in the treasure house, information, music, language dictionaries, calling taxis, controlling and connecting with other devices etc. Actually what is in the smartphone has an independent existence with the smart speakers.
The smart speaker, however, is not a toy for children. Technology makes our lives easier but with each advantage comes a price and consequently the need to minimize the cost to keep technology positive.
One of the journalists for the Catholic Peace Weekly introduces the Kakao Mini to the readers, a Korean made smart speaker. Kakao is a South Korean internet company and the most popular messaging service in Korea. Catholics may connect to Catholic Masses and sermons of the day and the office of the day etc. with Kakao Mini.
Since many of the foreign companies will be entering the Korean market as Google, a world leader, has already done, the competition will be great with the other tech giants of Korea also wanting a part of the market, which no doubt is the reason Kakao Mini is interested in the Catholic market.
Recently, the Catholic Church has expressed various opinions about how to accommodate various digital devices. On one hand, there is a criticism that digital devices lead to worldly lifestyles, without prayer and reflection. On the other side, there is a voice saying that it should be actively accepted in accordance with the changes of the times.
The Catholic Church, in Inter Mirifica text on the social media adopted by the Second Vatican Council in 1963, stated: "Among the wonderful technological discoveries... The most important of these inventions are those media which, such as the press, movies, radio, television and the like, can, of their very nature, reach and influence, not only individuals, but the very masses and the whole of human society, and thus can rightly be called the media of social communication."
As some of the world's leading companies such as Google and Amazon have come out with smart speakers, shortly, they will be as common as mobile phones, TVs and computers. In terms of rapid diffusion and power, it is right to put it in the same category as the discoveries that the council referred to.
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