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The Digital Divide
August 13, 2008
Do one thing every day that scares you.
-Eleanor Roosevelt
-Eleanor Roosevelt
- Out of thousands of children and adult Internet users surveyed in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Germany, France, Brazil, China, and Japan, 52 percent report having made friends online.
- 46 percent of users who made friends online said they enjoyed those relationships as much or more than friendships made offline.
- Parents in the U.S. reported their kids are online two hours a month.
- U.S. kids report spending 20 hours a month online.
If you are eager to use the Internet appropriately as a professional development tool, you may want to check out The ecelearn Guide to Learning Online. In this valuable guidebook, written for non-techies, online guru Chip Donohue provides tips for both teaching and learning online.
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Comments (2)
Displaying All 2 CommentsSSU
United States
What is defined as "online?" Is this simply Internet use or is it just chat rooms and social networking sites.
Also, what age children were included in the study. I believe the estimate of 20 hours per month by the children is low if it is inclusive of teenagers. My guess is some of my teenager's friends are online 20 hours a week verses 20 hours a month. They participate in online gaming (such as WOW) and spend a lot of time on You Tube.
Where are the parents that think their children only spend 2 hours a month online? Could it be because children are online when they are working? Or perhaps because their children have computers in their own bedrooms. I believe the computer has become the new "babysitter" that television once was.
The American Pediatrics Association recommends a maximum 2 hours of "screen time" per day for children. This includes both television and computers.
Our house rule has been 1 hour of recreation computer time per day (not including homework), however it does get stretched, especially on weekends. The best thing that we ever did was move our teenager's computer into our family room next to the family computer. This not only helps us monitor his online time in a natural way, but encourages f2f social interaction when his friends are over and they want to play games or watch You-Tube videos. It is still a constant topic.
I agree with Becky that computers have been a pro-social tool for many adults. In addition to online dating relationships, online support groups such as Lance Armstrong's "Live Strong" Web site and many others offer support groups and information sharing that are very helpful for people facing serious illness themselves or in their families. There are many other types as well.
I heard a piece on NPR a few months ago that talked about the changing world and how children today play with friends in a geographical range far nearer to their homes than their parents and especially grandparents did. The range was a few blocks (now) to a couple of miles (grandparents) if I recall correctly. On the up side, they reported that today's children are talking to and learning about other children all over the world on the computer. Which is better? It would be nice if we could have the best of both worlds with lots of f2f play with friends and the "pen pal" relationships with children in other places that Becky mentioned.
United States
The concern should be for children online - I do not believe we should be as concerned about adults. I do agree off-line relationships are important, but why are online relationships seen as 'bad' or looked at negativley. Are online relationships any different than having a pen pal? The friends exchange notes, learn about each other, and learn from each other. Over the past several years, as a society, we have heard more and more stories of couples meeting online and eventually getting married. (Myself included) These are all positive aspects of online relationships. As long as there is a balance and adults have at least one offline relationship, besides having online relationships, then I do not believe there is a need for major concern with adults being online. As first stated, it's the children we should focus on.
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