[KGIII]

What they will do is make the nearly inevitable drama of teen girl lives more expensive as the devices are discarded as rapidly as BFFs and boyfriends.

The drama in a young teen's life seems to know no limits. It's all very important to them, at least for the moment. As a parent, you're sort of obligated to take it Very Seriously.

These are just one more thing to be taken Very Seriously.

I do find it amusing that marketing has decided to latch onto STEM for young ladies. It's a noble goal, but I'm not sure trinkets are the way to go about it.

Sort of related: I'm a bit proud that my daughter is an MD, but my only help, aside from paying for it, was just offering to support her, regardless of her career choices - and trying to keep a good sense of humor.

[sarajo]

Hi! I hope we don't get discarded! We're a new product, so we don't yet have too much data about retention. We do know that 44% of our users code their Jewelbots using C++, many as first time coders! We also are about to ship our 10,000th unit. That makes over 4,000 new coders in the world (many younger than 10 years old)!

[KGIII]

I'd hope so too, but such seemed the way of my daughter and her friends when they were in that age bracket. Friendships were tossed aside at the slightest of reasons. It was a lot of drama.

While probably sexist to note this, my son and his friends didn't seem to have nearly the same drama. I'm not sure what the difference is but it certainly was both real and notable. I'm also sure it isn't universal.

[Macsenour]

Maybe a fallback, not that you need one yet, when/if discarding is an issue, make a ring that has less functionality but isn't as obtrusive. The cool kids keep their Jewelbots in their bag but a ring lets them know of some activity.

[asusBsus]

"the nearly inevitable drama of teen girl lives more expensive as the devices are discarded as rapidly as BFFs and boyfriends."

This is an untrue stereotype. I would argue that this stereotype, teen girls are unnecessarily and overly dramatic, is one of the same stereotypes that dissuades girls from coding in the first place.

[penagwin]

I'm not sure what you mean. Girls and guys in their young teen years (and older teen years) are both likely to fall in/out with other people. Both are very dramatic. While it could be confirmation bias, girls are more likely to "ignore each other", and other things that more permanently changes relationships.

If this is two bands that are interconnected that could get expensive.

[KGIII]

You can argue that but, out of curiosity, I just sent my daughter a text.

Me: 'How long do you think you kept friendship bracelets for?'

Her reply: 'Maybe two weeks. I still have one from [redacted] somewhere.'

As I said, it surely isn't universal but she and her friends all fit that pattern. It didn't keep her from STEM, she's an MD.

[klipt]

> It didn't keep her from STEM, she's an MD.

That's not out of the norm; roughly half of medical students are women: https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/

The "shortage of women in STEM" mostly refers to engineering and computer science.

[KGIII]

I'd call medical a science, but that's just me.

[klipt]

That's what I'm saying. It's only some of the sciences that have a shortage of women, and medical isn't really one of them. In fact one branch (nursing) has a huge oversupply of women.

[apsec112]

Starting lots of drama, and taking apparently silly things Very Seriously, is hardly unique to teenagers. At least petty teenage drama doesn't bankrupt whole companies, as I've seen happen multiple times with petty adult drama.

[KGIII]

Some people do not mature very much, true.