Comments on: Becoming a Digital Family

By: Scott Schablow

Scott Schablow — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:28:24 +0000

What a wonderful and thoughtful post. For each of my 3 children I have introduced them to the digital world as they showed and interest. When my youngest was 2 yrs old, I saw him walk into the study, open the desk drawer, pull out a cd, insert it in the PC and proceed to play a game. Clearly he was ready and had learned from watching his older siblings. I have frequent talks with all of them about the benefits and dangers in the online world. In our school system they begin using computers in Kindergarten and by 3rd grade they are doing their own PowerPoint presentations! BTW I also love your idea for the gmail journals.

By: Gary Cohen

Gary Cohen — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:39:57 +0000

Scott – As always – spot on.

By: Tony Eyles

Tony Eyles — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 23:25:57 +0000

My boy has just turned one so we face this in the future. I believe the web amplifies life for us all – exposes the good and bad. One way or another kids will see so much we were shielded from when we grew up – from porn to violence. Maybe it’s healthy – if its managed right. I do fear the predator-factor in kid-focussed sights though.

By: Scott Monty

Scott Monty — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:27:18 +0000

Thanks, Toad.
Good point on the aggregators vs. little minds. Kids are innately curious, and the Web is designed to cater to the curious mind (sometimes too much so!). I like that there are some great social networks & virtual worlds that are safe for kids. I’ve heard some disturbing stories of kids trying out Second Life – we all know the, ahem, diverse characters that are there.
Whatever solution(s) families find, you can be that the winners are going to be intuitive and user-friendly – mostly because the parents are going to be the ones who set it up.

By: toad

toad — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:57:46 +0000

Nice post, Scott.
A few thoughts from my own experience:
Kids don’t dig aggregators- they’ll find their own sites based on interests. They’ll use adult sites (youtube, espn.com, etc.) or visit sites associated with toys/shows they like (Nickelodeon and Disney have excellent offerings that are well-designed so that preschoolers can use them independently) And then there’s Webkinz and Club Penguin.
Weplay.com is still finding its legs. As someone who is in the midst of youth sports and web, I only just found out about it and it remains to be seen if it will take off. Kids were excited about ability to befriend sports stars but found set-up a bit frustrating and not overly intuitive

By: Beth Robinson

Beth Robinson — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 01:13:55 +0000

My daughter is three months old now. I’d thought about purchasing a domain name for her – although I’m a bit conflicted about how to handle the possibly changing last name bit, I’ll probably leave it off. I love the Gmail idea and might have to adopt it.

By: Brick Marketing

Brick Marketing — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 20:26:58 +0000

WOW. Gmailing your children – literally just got me teary eyed. As a mother to be…that’s a great idea. Wow!
- Kate from Brick Marketing

By: Melanie Notkin

Melanie Notkin — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:46:14 +0000

I love the idea of Gmailing your kids! I think I’ll steal that idea for my nieces and nephews!

By: Paul Barsch

Paul Barsch — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:45:32 +0000

Scott, loved the idea of sending your boys emails in advance that they can read someday. But what a chore to go in and delete the spam! For me, I think I will stick to good old pen and paper.