DigiDiaries
Social Media for Generation ME
I'm telling my mommy-avatar
I'll be honest - I never knew much about/paid much attention to/was always kinda scared of virtual worlds for teens. To me, it represented the endproduct that I was always terrified technology would leave us with:
Actual, fleshy social interaction REPLACED by angle-y, pixelated virtual interaction.
Ew.
But I can no longer deny that it has caught on - I can name approximately 5 million different teen-targeted Virtual World programs, like ExitReality, There, Habbo, SecondLife for Teens (I shudder everytime I find a new one)...
HOWEVER.
The internet utopia we hoped to create through these worlds is getting just as sketchy as real life.
For just as in your most scarring 2nd-grade memories...
Bullies click among us. 
According to this article by the LA Times, kids in virtual worlds frequently get scammed by ...other freakin' kids. This includes:
- Virtual money theft - A promises B another an avatar makeover or more money/points in exchange for their password. A breaks promise & makes off with loot. B is pissed.
- Sneaky keyboard codes that allow other players to use your (hard earned!) virtual possessions
- Verbal harassment through private messages and virtual chatrooms
Sites take huge measure to try to ensure safety - I remember playing some Disney-related VW game, and they only let you type certain kid-friendly phrases - but cyberteasing and harassment isn't as easy to trace as playground antics. It's the internet. Most things are swallowed in anonymity.
This says two major things to me:
1). That, just like most manmade things, the internet is finally adopting human error. That which is made by man will have the flaws of man - Intrawebz, you are NO longer an exception, &
2). That the gift/curse freedom of the internet no longer means freeplay.
Are we gonna start teaching our kids how to develop tough skins both in the real and virtual worlds?
Are virtual worlds gonna start coming with virtual self-help pdfs?!
WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!
Posted at 05:14PM Jul 11, 2008 by Bernadette Anat in Blogging | Comments[0]
Today's Page Hits: 40