FRONTLINE has a feature on “Growing Up Online” that looks good.

Tuesday, January 22nd, 9 P.M. ET on PBS. Check your local listing to make sure you don’t miss it.

UPDATE: If you missed it, check the links above as it maybe rebroadcast, or you can watch the program online.

Their summary from the website:

MySpace. YouTube. Facebook. Nearly every teen in America is on the Internet every day, socializing with friends and strangers alike, “trying on” identities, and building a virtual profile of themselves–one that many kids insist is a more honest depiction of who they really are than the person they portray at home or in school.

In “Growing Up Online,” FRONTLINE peers inside the world of this cyber-savvy generation through the eyes of teens and their parents, who often find themselves on opposite sides of a new digital divide. From cyber bullying to instant “Internet fame,” to the specter of online sexual predators, FRONTLINE producer Rachel Dretzin investigates the risks, realities and misconceptions of teenage self-expression on the World Wide Web.

Trailer here:

Posted: January 19th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
Comments: 1

Apparently this world that we live in isn’t big enough, and so the large corporations and marketeers are busy creating new virtual worlds for our kids to inhabit, and they’re teaching them valuable lessons that they can take back to the real world as they grow up.

Like, “spend, spend, spend!”

Brett at DadTalk tells us that these virtual worlds are on the rise.

My kids went through the Webkinz phase. I think there was something before that, but I can’t remember. It’s been a while. Now my son is into Runescape, which as best as I can tell isn’t overloaded with marketing. But there was MapleStory, which he was eager to part with his money to get ahead in that game. Apparently, you could take Dad’s hard-earned money and turn it into play MapleStory cash and buy accessories in the virtual world. Uh… no…

But he did come up with $10 that he received from Grandma as a gift… So he handed over the money, and put through the transaction on my PayPal account. Just a couple of days later, he burned through his virtual cash, and showed up with another $10 in cash that he wanted to give to me to transfer another $10 into his MapleStory account. Uh… no…

“Earning” virtual cash in the game to spend in the game is one thing, but when these games start requiring monthly subscriptions or drum up the desire in the kids to convert their real cash into “play money”, forget it.

Go read Brett’s post. He’s got some great quotes and he elaborates more on the impending assault be the huge corporate marketing machines on our kids.

And naturally, I’m going to plug ComputerTime for parents who would like a little help keeping their kids in the real world. We get a lot of compliments on how it eliminates the fighting. If you struggle with the endless “Just five more minutes! Please!” arguments, give it a try!

Posted: January 2nd, 2008 under Uncategorized.
Comments: 2