Online social networking for seven-year-olds is here. Higher childhood obesity rates can’t be far behind!

July 18th, 2007 by Ray Martino

Club Penguin is the only online site 7-year-old Maisie in England is allowed to visit unsupervised, where she can play games, throw virtual snowballs and chat with other preteens who appear on screen as plump cartoon penguins. According to an Associated Press report in the International Herald Tribune, sites such as Club Penguin are “the training wheels for the MySpace generation.”

On the surface, introducing kids to social networking is one way to help their computer literacy. But is it a healthy use of their time?

As a child I spent my leisure time playing baseball in the spring and summer, touch football in the fall, street hockey in the winter, and managed to find time to read books, go fishing, play tag, build a tree house, go on cub scout camping trips, or just hang out. In the process, I engaged in “social networking.” I made many friends and acquaintances, many of whom are still part of my network.

At the risk of sounding like an old fuddy duddy, shouldn’t seven-year-olds learn how to interact with others through face-to-face play? Isn’t it healthier to walk, talk, and run in fresh air rather than sit in front of a computer screen?

Club Penquin is billed as an “online playground.” What’s wrong with a real playground?

This entry was posted by Ray Martino on Wednesday, July 18th, 2007 and is filed under News, Rants and Raves, Social Networking, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.