News for the Week of April 1, 2007
Tops in kid-tech news this week is online socializing's other next frontier (besides cellphones): virtual worlds...
Social-networking + alternate worlds
If anyone's wondering if virtual worlds are the next social frontier for teens, they might want to look at the evidence. At least, the evidence of how much one virtual world — Second Life — has infiltrated the "real world" and vice versa.
- Calvin Klein launched its virtual perfume in Second Life, VNUNET reports.
- US T-shirt maker and retailer American Apparel has a virtual store in Second Life.
- Reuters and The Street.com have news bureaus in the virtual world.
- UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow held a rally against the Darfur conflict in January in Second Life, TheStreet.com reports from its bureau there.
- A New York art gallery has staged an exhibition of portraits of Second Life's "13 most beautiful" people and Australia's Four Corners news show aired a documentary shot mostly within Second Life, Australia's The Age reports.
- Cisco, Dell, and IBM have set up shop in the world, "making it the first destination for real-world companies looking to extend their brand in to the virtual realm," TheStreet.com reports.
And while Second Life passes the 5 million-resident mark, long-time members with something of a "we were here first" attitude are getting annoyed about the commercialization and all these new avatars walking around, the Los Angeles Times reports — though their message is more about wanting more say in the virtual world's fate. So now there's a "Second Life Liberation Army" blowing up storefronts (I'll explain) and saying that "80% of long-term residents support their cause." [Blowing things up in a virtual world is expressed in "swirling fireballs that thrust users at the scene into motionless limbo," the L.A. Times explains.]
Kid versions
But there are other worlds in existence, including Teen Second Life, as well as new ones in development. Lego's working on a kids' world that will add the social element to its creative construction focus. Worlds for young people already in place are Whyville.net and There.com (even Neopets, ClubPenguin, Habbo, and Cyworld have virtual-world elements). Many older teens play in the more game-like World of Warcraft. Sony has announced its "Home" world for PlayStation 3, CNET reports, but people won't be able to build stores and residences in it; it's more a forum for players, along the lines of Xbox Live but with avatars. A brand-new world + social networking combined is Kaneva.com, "which extends a profile system" like MySpace's "into a three-dimensional world" (probably more like South Korea-based Cyworld (which launched a US version last summer). "Kaneva, Latin for 'canvas,' certainly isn't as immersive as the world of Second Life, but its simple design and controls may draw a much larger, less tech-savvy crowd, TheStreet.com reports. A very big forthcoming title is "Spore," designed by "videogame god" Will Wright, who created The Sims and SimCity — see The Register and Business Week.
In other news...
- 'Distributed friendship.' 90% of British youth have access to a computer at home, and more than 60% of UK 13-to17-year-olds have profiles on social-networking sites, The Telegraph reports in its thorough, thoughtful article, "Can u speak teenager?" Like the New York magazine piece I linked to recently, this one reflects some interesting analysis occurring about how all this online socializing is affecting growing up now — and how it compares to the way we grew up. For example, we maybe had a few really close friends with whom we shared "everything." The average teen now has 75 friends rather than 5, London School of Economics Prof. Sonia Livingston told The Telegraph.
- Cyberbullying findings. Cross-gender peer pressure and Web video are not a good mix, this Reuters report indicates. Cyberbullies are pressuring "friends" to strip in front of Webcams so the bullies can share the video online. A research team at the University of Toronto held focus groups with 47 students in grades 5-12 to look into online behavior like this. "The images are even more likely to be passed on if the couple breaks up," their research found. It also confirmed what other studies have that: that victims refuse to tell an adult about the abuse because they fear parents will shut down their Internet access, and because it's "pointless to tell parents" when the bully can't be identified (s/he usually can be, but kids don't know this). The full study will be released in June, Reuters says.
- Multitasking's limits. It appears critical thinking is needed where multitasking's concerned. Don't just yield indiscriminately to technology's "tug," the New York Times reports suggests — manage your technology! The Times says experts in multiple studies advise that we "check email messages once an hour, at most. Listening to soothing background music while studying may improve concentration. But other distractions — most songs with lyrics, instant messaging, television shows — hamper performance. Driving while talking on a cellphone, even with a hands-free headset, is a bad idea." There's still a lot we don't know, though. Because we've only had all these multitasking-enabling digital devices a short time, the research has only just begun.
- 1 in 6 self-injure. One in six US adolescents are inflicting injury on themselves, according to research by Stony Brook University psychology professor David Klonsky, and the number is rising. Reuters reports that his study "involved interviews with about 40 students who self-injure" and an analysis of 30 years of research on self-inflicted cutting and burning. He found the behavior is "often linked to depression but not suicide" (the latter a fairly common misconception), and it's a coping mechanism. One of his interviewees told Professor Klonsky that cutting distracted her from her emotional anguish (her brother had gone to prison and her father to serve in the US military in Iraq). Klonsky says this has become a major problem in schools in the US, Britain, and Australia. Though the behavior is usually solitary and secretive, like involvement in eating disorders, it can find the wrong kind of reinforcement online — as well as help (see "The social Web's 'Lifeline'"). Meanwhile, parents might also want to read the New York Times report on "the choking game".
