4. Why was Gloria’s mother unable to accept Robbie as an excellent nursemaid?

[Jen]

Why was Gloria’s mother unable to accept Robbie as an excellent nursemaid? Was Robbie premonitory on Asimov’s part—a prediction that children in the twenty-first century might form intense emotional attachments to electronics?

[[deleted user]]

I think she feared technology and could never trust him 100% which is illogical as there would be just as much risk with a human nursemaid.

I am not sure children now have an intense emotional attachment to electronics I think they are more likely to be addicted the things that electronics can give them such as access to peers 24/7

[Paula]

I agree with Book that the problem was Gloria's mother's fear of new technology. The way Asimov wrote the story I felt it was a bit misogynistic - she didn't like Robbie because she was a technophobe just like other women!

And I think that modern parents' fears of their children's attachment to electronics are similar to Gloria's mother's fear.

[Diane]

I agree with Book and Paula.