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MySpace for the Sandlot Set
conq writes "BusinessWeek has a piece on social networking sites for kids." From the article: "Parents are paying more heed to the kiddie sites because they know their children will learn, work, and live online. Computer skills such as social networking are becoming as much a part of the success-in-life portfolio as addition and subtraction, says Herbert S. Lin, senior scientist at the National Research Council. Parents' support of these sites stems in part from the idea that it's better for their kids to get their online introductions in a controlled environment -- as many of these sites promise -- than venture into the cyberjungle alone."
is to be there with them.
Show them whats out there, explain things, guide them and most of all - don't let them out on their own.
You wouldn't consider letting your youngster go playing on the streets on a saturday night, so do the same with online stuff.
liqbase
MySpace for the Sandlot Set
Yeah, just what we need. A website where five-year-olds can post drunk pictures of themselves. But now that you mention it, Pete Townshend might be into that.
Push Button, Receive Bacon
That the internet be the one place we can relax *away* from snotty-nosed brats? Just sayin'.
A witty saying proves nothing
Social networking, a "computer skill"? Social networking has translated pretty well to tha intarweb, but that doesn't mean it's a computer skill. I'd say that online social networking has both pros and cons compared to the traditional venues, so you can't even call it the ultimate.
Since when was "social networking" a computer skill? Kids have been going to friend's houses, going to youth clubs, going to music/dance/martial arts etc. classes after school, going to each other's birthday parties, and just generally hanging out for a very, very long time. They've also been making pen friends. I once met someone on IRC from the other side of the world, and although that initial meeting was online, almost all of our correspondence from then until losing touch years later was by letter (the real, pen and paper kind).
To my mind, a "computer skill" is a skill related to the intrinsics of computers themselves, be it hardware or software, or the ability to do something you actually or effectively cannot do without computers. Simply knowing how to use computers is "computer literacy"; for me, at least, the distinction is the very reason we have two separate terms.
Mad Dog Mobile is aimed at the same age range and uses full time moderation of both chat and content to keep things "safe", compared to other sites though capabilities are restricted to err on the side of safety.
I can't imagine that I'd make more restrictions as she gets older. She's going to have to make her own decisions about who she hangs out with and what she does with her time. All we can do is offer advice and provide opportunities to meet nice people. You don't make opportunities with restrictions, you do it by getting out and around.
Now, she uses her computer to play games on PBS, which are helping her math and language. She especially likes Cyberchase. Because we use mostly free software, we've never had any problems with pop up spam and all of that. Issues of bullying and other nonsense are not computer issues and have not happend yet. When they do, they will be treated like real world cases, mostly ignored.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
When I was younger and first venturing into the "scary" cyberscape moderated chats existed.
I remember hopping onto AOL 3.0 (this was right after the Eddie Werner case in NJ, so the internet was espescially scary) and there was a ton of moderated chat rooms for kids. Then again back then there wren't a lot of MMOs or various other things to actually do online. Unless you were the entrepeneuring sort.
Im going to attach my post to this one to maybe do a karma tow on it. My big problems with a miniMySpace
1 if you depend on it being a walled garden how strong are the walls? for you d20 fans how is a Red Great Wyrm handled if it gets into the garden or a high end Chaotic Evil Wizard or even a kid being a thrall of something nasty
2 the E-Pimp problem there is a very fine line between modeling sites and Juvi Porn sites
3 getting a real live hosted domain is way too simple and would work a lot better (and Dadums can setup a "Greater Wall of Pure Writing" to handle the Spam problem)
Me i like the method of a hosted domain and a good set of gymnatics/dance lessons with a MA twist
Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
Am I the only person who read the headline and expected some quotes from the movie "The Sandlot"?
If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
"Social Networking" is a computer skill?! What next? Clicking on hrefs now considered a computer skill? Deleting files a "computer skill"?
Gimme a break.
They just lie about their age when they sign up. I know half a dozen local kids who have done this. Since MySpace doesn't do any verification, the admins essentially have to catch 'em in the act--not hard since most of the kids who do this are up-front about it, but first you have to find the profiles in a sea of legitimate ones.
Nathan
My pr0n collection pwnz j00!! ????
Sounds more to me like "the first hit of crack is free!"
I mean, what's wrong with the actual playground? Or actually exploring the physical world on your BMX bike, going down to the ol' swimmin' hole? I guess with the fear-mongering society we live in, parents would rather their kids be "safe" in a mind-numbing virtual world than face the "dangers" of a more stimulating outside world. This is just the perfect way to get kids to the point where their seratonin supply is regulated by the light of an LCD screen, rather than sunlight. Where their social success is measured in slashdot Karma, rather than ... oh wait ...
... and then they built the supercollider.
Social networking website "skills" an important factor in a child's future success? Walden Pond is looking better every day.
if(!toilet_paper) roll.replace(new roll);
There's no way 'twitter' here has a child, no way whatsoever. Just look at the way he posts. He's just using this "let me tell you about my daughter" to prop up his inane argument.
She will have to do and pay for that by herself, but I doubt M$ will exist much less be the basis for any computer courses in ten years. If Vista does not kill M$, the ten years it's going to take to make Event Horizon will.
What's Event Horizon? Event Horizon is the code name for the next version of Windows. Vista is the view beyond the Windows and the Horizon is the view beyond the Vista. The OS will be so massive by that time that anything, even light, getting anywhere near will be sucked into the black hole core. Some theorize that all the information sucked up by M$ will explode back into existence in at some future time, but most acknowledge the regurgitated information will be of little use to it's original owners. I think that Vista core already has collapsed and has it's own Event Horizon which is now obscured by marketing noise and other hot gasses. We will have to observe it to be sure, but the trend is unmistakable and M$'s next project will indeed be a black hole.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
There - fixed your title.