Baby monitors from the future

Introducing the latest baby monitor from Philips, that among other things, promises that you will 'always feel connected with your baby'.

This, my friends, is a machine from the future and I'm not sure it is good.

In effect, the thing allows you to look after your baby without having to go into its room. It has a temperature/humidity sensor, it plays lullabies, has a nightlight and allows you to talk to your baby through the in-built microphone. If your baby makes a noise, the mobile unit lights up and your are promised 24hrs of continuous cordless monitoring. I don't know about this. Sure, baby monitors are a nice convenience of the modern world but I think we have come to a strange place if parents are now totally satisfied that their children are safe and sound as long as they know the temp/humidity in the nursery are appropriate or if the baby isn't making any discernible noise. How busy can you possibly be that the 'demands of parenting' (as the advert suggests) prevent you from checking in on your baby?

Weird.

4D ultrasounds: fetus v. mother

If 4D ultrasounds are your thing, you will be amazed by Phillips new 'Presentation Bump' 4D ultrasound integrated scanning 'belt' which was introduced to the world this week in London from their Simplicity Concept Collection. This new technology is presented under the 'Celebrating Pregnancy' concept as a way of making ultrasound experiences less clinical and more 'playful'.

According to Phillips, this new ultrasound would take place in 'The Pregnancy Room' with ambient lighting for optimatl 'fetal viewing'. Expectant parents would be shown a series of images on a 'tummy-shaped wall' to demonstrate how the fetus has grown and ending with the current scan. Parents then have access to 'The Bebescope', a wireless portable device onto which the regular scans, including the baby’s heartbeat, are uploaded so that they can be reviewed at home. By imitating the imaging specialist’s hand movements on the Presentation Bump, parents use the Bebescope to move backwards or forwards in time to view a recording of their baby’s growth, or simply rotate their ‘virtual’ baby in any direction for the view of their choice.

I find the idea of scanning yourself at home a little too 'Brave New World' and this invites a whole host of problematic disjunctures medically and culturally between mothers and fetuses. A fantastic tool for bonding, clearly, but in the long run, I think it is hard enough for women to negotiate pregnancy in cultures that constantly implore that the fetus is the more important subject. Now that fetuses are becoming 'babies' earlier and earlier in pregnancy, the idea that women will be 'playing' with their 'virtual baby' from the outset, makes my skin crawl. When did pregnancy become a game? The safety of multiple ultrasound scans in pregnancy is still unclear, women scanning themselves or having multiple scans is highly unethical and threatens women's autonomy.

Source: http://www.newscenter.philips.com/about/news/press/20071023_simplicity_concept_collection.page
http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/23/philips-shows-off-health-and-wellness-concepts-at-simplicity-eve/