Ann,

It's painful to admit, but I am on the leading edge of the Baby Boomer Generation. The rock has gone out of my role.

As for my participation in social media, I guess it depends on how we define it. Is this social media? I would define it as professional media but am not tied to my definition. I visit sites such as this daily and often participate. I visit YouTube rarely and visit anyplace identified by "small talk" even less.

I remain a guy who prefers face-to-face over virtual. And I dislike chat for chat's sake, except with people to whom I am close. What does that make me? A guy who knows what he likes?

Lewis

I heard the report on NPR yesterday and was going to post something about it... but you just had to scoop me. DANG IT!

MySpace is getting older. YouTube is purchased by Google.

What a day...

My 14 year old son is a MySpace addict with several pages of his own now. My 5 year old daughter is just starting to use the computer to play games on the PBS and Noggin sites. However, she is such a social animal that I have no doubt she will be using social networking sites with great ease any second now.

I agree with your assertion that social networking is getting younger while aging. It makes sense based on what I continually see in my own home.

I have a MySpace page but can't seem to "figure it out" enough to make it do what I want or look like I want. I'm just an old blogger I guess... but I couldn't ignore the fact that many people are mirgating over to MySpace and the news now that it is "aging" adds more pressure to be there. We'll see how it develops from here.

As for the kids dilemna... that's a tough one. I wish that my children spent more time outside running under the trees and throwing rocks across creeks like I did, but we live in the city and don't have that world right outside our doors. They both seem to be well-adjusted and intelligent, so how guilty should I feel? Daddy works for a bike company, so they have bikes and will hopefully ride like Daddy (though without getting run over as much).

The fact of the matter is that technology has changed our lives and will keep doing so.

I think the problem is, no matter what their age, that people go to these sites to mainly socialize, and companies want to mainly make money off their socializing. The SMART companies will be the ones that forego trying to make money off the community directly, but instead look for ways to make their EXPERIENCE better, realizing that doing so will indirectly lead to more money for them.

Because, as I'm afraid YouTube is about to find out, when a community that builds one of these sites sees that site shift to try to make money off them, they'll leave. And most companies are too greedy and impatient to worry about trying to make that money off their community by FIRST providing them with a more enjoyable experience.

Okay, let's see:

I'm 49 and my avatar (taller, skinnier, prettier than me) is sipping a glass of orange juice and earning a few dollar-equivalents in a casino in Second Life while I work my First Life.

My son, age 11, has been an enthusiastic player in Disney's Toontown, which is either a multiplayer game or a virtual social network depending on how you define either one.

I like Ann's comparison of Club Penguin to watching reruns of F-Troop or Gilligan's Island -- I can see many advantages for my son to hang out in Toontown rather than flop in front of the TV, aside from the obvious disadvantage; why isn't he outside playing with friends? (Answer: none of them lives close enough).

One friend of mine has questioned club penguin because of the effect it has on her younger daughter, age 7 -- she can barely pry her daughter's hands off the keyboard and worries about her confusing the virtual and real worlds.

I do have a Myspace page, mainly to patrol what my kiddo posts on his myspace page and who's sending him invites and comments. (they all go to his email address which I have access to on my laptop -- do I sound like a control freak here?).

How did Evan learn about Toontown? From a friend. Who are his best friends in Toontown? Other real-life friends (whose parents pony up the monthly fee or allow them to set up free temporary accounts). So far I don't see him replacing the virtual world with the real one. Instead, he's broadening his view to include both, which also extends to his PlayStation games and Pokemon scenarios.

Ann,

I, like Lewis (the above poster), am in my 50s and thought that the social network phenomenon was something my kids did (they're in the early 20s) on Facebook and MySpace.

But for the last 2 weeks, I've started blogging myself (to promote the amazing "Ball of Whacks"), and only then have I discovered the enormous size of the social networking phenomenon among professional people in their 30s and 40s. But unlike the sites you mention (for younger people) where the numbers are huge and concentrated, I've found that the people I've found and met in the blogosphere come from many, many, many different sites.

In order words, social networking in older professionals is considerably more fragmented, but no less important.

I wonder about the validity of the study. A friend of my son has a MySpace account and told them he was 99--he's only 14!

Thanks for the articulate comments, Mack, Lewis, Tim, Roger, Nancy and Janet.

Lewis: I think a lot of people feel that way (prefer face time over screen time), but I know my daughter views it differently. In her world, one compliments the other.

Tim: Sounds like we are living parallel lives separately with our respective sets of kids. Funny when blogging suddenly is "old school"!

Janet: Your Evan's treatment of Toontown is strikingly similar to the way my daughter uses Club Penguin -- same friends online as offline, for the most part!

Nancy: Funny comment....!

And Roger: It's amazing -- there's a whole universe out here when you get into it, huh?!

Technology has no doubt changed the way kids are raised. I'm 29 and played video games when I was a kid, but I also spent a lot of time engaging in REAL social interactions that involved people who were physically present, complete with their non-verbals (facial expression, proximity, tone of voice, etc.). No "rich" media or social networking community will ever replace that, even with Avatars that smell like your stinky neighbor friend whose parents didn't bathe him enough.

I think it's wise to balance these new technologies with some forced interaction between kids who actually live nearby, go to the same schools, and actually EXIST (unlike that 14 year old kid who says he's 99 years old). Otherwise, our kids end up spending their time doing almost all of their socializing in a virtual world -- and that could become dangerous.

I agree, Biggie...it is changing the way kids are raised and, in particular, the way they are socialized. And as with most things, balance and moderation is good.

I wonder about something else, too...do you think that kids who DON'T have access to social networking (typically, less affluent kids who don't have a live, high-speed connection available) will be disadvantaged when they grow up (as some suggest)...or not?

Ann,

I would guess most moms around the country with 9 year olds are familiar with Club Penguin. I can attest that it has found its way to the tweens in the Midwest.

Personally, I'm trying to hold my ground by insisting that my daughter cough up $6 bucks of her allowance to pay for the monthly membership. It's probably a losing battle. How many times a day can you stand the complaints that she can't get a purple pet without a membership?

At the same time, I would question her commitment to a digital community. I mean she can't keep her Tamagotchi alive for more than a day or two. Hopefully when the fad wears off, she'll head outside and play with her friends in the real world.

Social networking at this age seems to be very attractive to girls. But I just can't picture 8-12 year old boys spending hours in social networking sites. Am I wrong?

Lisa -- I hear you, sistah...I have Caroline cough up the six bucks, too. You might be right about boys being less interested in social networking sites -- any parents of boys here? -- but the funny thing is that Caroline's 14-year-old brother actually helps her win coins at some of the games AND (astonishingly!) kicks in to help pay the six bucks. (He's obviously got a bit of an edge in the games...) So I guess what I lose in outside playtime I gain in brother-sister harmony....which is a rare and precious thing some days.

Our 12 year daughter loves social networking sites, while our 15 year old boy loves networking with his friends via World of Warcraft...just 2 different ways, I guess, to interact socially.

Reading through all the comments, I was drawn by the ages noted in this whole 'new' (to a Baby Boomer who never had a computer until my later 30s) 'socialization'. Note that most of those mentioned are young kids (Millenials) up to their early 20s. The Gen Xers, in their 30s and 40s, while adept with computers, had to 'learn' them when they came out and gained importance in all facets of their lives. Gen X still had more early experience in 'face to face' socialization, and were somewhat oldere when most of the major 'social sites' were born.

This youngest group, the Millenials, have cut their teeth with computers and all that is a part of the virtual world we now live in. Before a child is a year old, it is likely it will have some experience with a computerized 'something' in his/her life.

We used to play with blocks and balls, actually playing with other children in what is now called "free play" to develop our creativity, problem solving abilities and social skills. This newest generation plays with computerized toys and games, often alone. Their connection to the outside world, while certainly more global than ours, is through a computer monitor and a keyboard. It makes you wonder how well they will function in the real world as they age into the workplace.

My soon to be 14 year old son is a MySpace fiend. He is in near constant contact with all of his other male friends through MySpace and text messages. I don't see any real gap, in my world, in gender use.

As the babyboomer mother of a 25 year old, I am concerned about the outcome of this new social networking trend. On one hand, I am sure it is inevitable, but I also hope that busy parents will take the time to adequately monitor their children's virtual experiences.

In a period where we see repeated violence in schools, it is important to ensure that our children are not too isolated. Will spending a lot of time in a virtual world prevent them from developing the social skills to interact in the real one? I fear we may increasingly find a generation without the ability to establish bonds and build relationships with real people.

As a 21 year old, I am in a unique position where I remember the absence of the internet (at least in my household.) Yet, I consider myself someone who has "grown up" with the internet.

When I was younger, social networking wasn't as structured as it is now. Our social networking and activity was the use of instant messenger. I remember my mother's fear that I would someday use emoticons in my English papers and the acronym LOL in social settings.

Though I probably spent entirely too much time on IM, I have blossomed into a social person who also understands and appreciates technology. Mom's so proud.

Point being that arguably my generation turned out ok!These kids will too.

Now, I have an account with Facebook. It has offered me opportunities for connection that I would have never thought possible. I have reconnected with people from elementary school. I played four square, tag, and Oregon Trail with these people. Our friendship pre-dates the internet. How many from other generations can say they have experienced this?

As for the question about how these children will function when they go into the workforce, I have confidence that they will succeed. You see, they will have the technological knowledge that is driving and will drive business in the future.

I'm no statistician, but i've not seen anyone comment on three "quantitative" things related to this supposedly big story:

1) one month not a trend make. let's track it for another 6 months and see.
2) didja notice all six sites shown in the study were packed in a tight range near 35% to 40% for the boomer demo? Anyone want to guess how close that is to internet user stats in general? (hint - very close).
3) a better stat was pointed out by the author in the article you linked us to - session time, which is many multiples lower for boomers. with all the media attention on social networking (some of it very titillating, and near-pornographic in many cases) is it any wonder traffic went up among typical media consumer age groups?

My three cents, anyway...

Hey all,

I just wanted to let you know about an amazing social network site for moms by moms - www.connectingmoms.com

It has everything you need within a gated community. Totally addicted!