Image by Lyn Millett via Flickr
Toddlers with iPodTouches and tweens with iPhones. What will they think of next? Turns out, the mainstream media is turning its attention to the world of social networking and wondering how elementary school kids and pre-teens should be navigating such things. It's pretty clear that Facebook is a mess, and while it may have helped pave a path regarding a particular type of social networking, it's probably not the site you'd want to send your 7-year-old to, at least not at first. So what then?
The New York Times reports that people are hard at work developing social networking sites geared to the younger site.
This piece focuses on the recently-launched Togetherville:
Nevertheless, I find these sites and communities interesting. Obviously, as more adults use social networking, it will be something their kids see as typical and a part of life. So it's not surprising that young kids will want to know what it's all about. But in addition to posing some of the usual challenges about what kids might be exposed to by using the Internet as part of their homework, social networking comes with its own set of still-evolving norms and conventions. And in addition to the online aspects, it potentially layers on all of the school-age challenges (bullying, cliques, and so forth). My child is not quite 2, so I have a few years (I think) before I have to grapple with these things for real. And given the pace of technological change, I expect the options will be different then, although of course the pseudonymity, bullying, and censorship considerations will unfortunately persist in some form or another.
a social networking site intended for use by children ages 6 to 10 and their parents. It aims to keep children safe from cyberbullying and other online dangers while allowing them to become comfortable with online interaction. The site, which has been in private beta for several months, was opened to the public on Tuesday night.Friends of mine have kids who loooove Disney's Club Penguin, where,
In the form of a colorful penguin avatar, your child can join the community, engage in a variety of fun activities, chat and play games with friends.Disney being Disney, I think there's some coin involved to get access to certain areas of the site and functionalities. According to the NYT article, Togetherville will do something similar. One of the more interesting issues to me that such sites raise are the comparative advantages and disadvantages of avatars (and relative anonymity, or at least pseudonymity) versus having to be 'yourself' (note I am avoiding the long philosophical discussion about identity and what it all means) on the site. This issue is a longstanding flashpoint in online communities, from back in the days of BBSes, and reams and reams have been written about it. The creator of Togetherville believes that real names enforce accountability:
Mr. Dhillon said this type of interaction helps children develop social skills that they can’t get from virtual worlds like Club Penguin, which protect children by having them act only through anonymous avatars.Maybe, maybe not. There are lessons that can be learned from experimenting with different identities, too. I learned, for example, that one is treated much, much differently if one has a male or gender-neutral handle. Tween girls should have the opportunity to explore a space or a community without having to deal with the immediate negative gendered assumptions and behaviors that are almost inevitable for girls alone. And that's only one reason why pseudonymity is not all bad.
“We teach kids from a very early age, never let your identity be online, never let anyone know who you are, but we’re teaching some bad things,” he said. “Kids don’t learn how to be accountable.”
Nevertheless, I find these sites and communities interesting. Obviously, as more adults use social networking, it will be something their kids see as typical and a part of life. So it's not surprising that young kids will want to know what it's all about. But in addition to posing some of the usual challenges about what kids might be exposed to by using the Internet as part of their homework, social networking comes with its own set of still-evolving norms and conventions. And in addition to the online aspects, it potentially layers on all of the school-age challenges (bullying, cliques, and so forth). My child is not quite 2, so I have a few years (I think) before I have to grapple with these things for real. And given the pace of technological change, I expect the options will be different then, although of course the pseudonymity, bullying, and censorship considerations will unfortunately persist in some form or another.
I wonder if anyone else worries about not being able to keep up with technology so that I can keep an eye out for my daughter as she starts getting online...
Posted by: Michelle | Saturday, May 22, 2010 at 09:22 PM