There was a story in USA Today the other day about a fuction on the Wal-Mart Web site that allows kids to make their own Christmas lists with toys found, naturally, on the Wal-Mart Web site. A mother quoted in the story was ticked off because she felt Wal-Mart was manipulating her kid, who loved tabulating his list.
Her 4-year-old kid.
Wait a second. Should a 4 year old have unfettered access to a Web site? Can’t mom just turn off the computer and tell her kid to play with his Tinker Toys? (Tinker what?)
What I’m getting at is this whole online thing. It seems that many parents who would sooner remove their own fingernails than have their kid play unsupervised in the backyard have no problem letting a very unseemly and dangerous world have its own portal inside their own homes, perhaps in their childrens' bedrooms.
Linda Ellerbee, one of my favorite TV journalists (and one of the most underrated and honest) is tackling the issue this Sunday, Dec. 10, on the Nick News show on the Nickelodeon network.
"For a lot of kids, the virtual world is their playground, recreation center, arcade and mall. Going online isn’t somethings they do, it’s somewhere they are," Ellerbee says. "The goal of this show is not to scare kids offline or encourage parents to unplug computers, but to help kids better understand and use this evolving technology, and show them ways to protect themselves in the process."
Be sure to watch.
By they way, did you catch that Prince reference in the headline? I am so 1984.