Jessica Cha
Kelly Forster
Miko Hoshino
Merusha Nasoordeen
Introduction
Since its inception, the Internet has been a realm for those seeking possibilities. It was originally a space for wealthy adults, based mostly on text, but now has been transformed into the hip new place to be for the younger generations. For the past five years, there has been a large influx in the number of children and adolescents interacting with cyberspace as the graphics became better and a large number of services became available to the general public. This has made for a growing business market in developing online games, virtual worlds, and social networking sites. There has been a niche for online games for children as children as young as six are on the Internet playing games. In essence, the adolescents and children of this day and age are the “cyber-generation” as they are more savvy about online technology than many young adults.
This paper will seek to address the issue of how children and adolescents in the new “cyber-generation” use the Internet and for what purposes they use it for. The paper will proceed by explaining the methods used to obtain information on the usage of the Internet by the “cyber-generation.” It will then go into detail of one of the most popular children and pre-teen online spaces, Club Penguin. Then, in sum, a discussion will be held on how children’s and adolescents’ differing races and genders affect their use of the Internet.
Methods
To obtain information on children and adolescents on the Internet, personal and group interviews were used. In an effort to address issues of race and gender, children and adolescents from a minority church youth group and a predominately Caucasian San Diego middle school were interviewed. In an effort to protect all the children involved in the interviews, their names are changed for the purposes of this paper and all had parental consent to participate in the study.
Interviews: San Diego Middle School
In order to get a strong grasp of how pre-teens use the Internet a group of four girls and one group of five boys, all between the ages of eleven and twelve, were interviewed. The majority of the students were white and came from an upper-middle class background, which reflected the surrounding neighborhood. It came as a surprise that the children were willing to speak about the Internet and were enthusiastic about sharing their experiences of the Internet.
The girls started using the Internet around the age of seven or eight with their first website being Webkinz and Club Penguin. The two girls who had used these sites said they had out grown Webkins, which both girls described as a place only really little kids go, but continued to play Club Penguin. One of the girls described how, when she was using Webkinz, she had used Google to do research on what pet she might be able to own. In addition to using virtual worlds, some of the children used messaging systems. At least two of the girls said they used AIM (AOL Instant Messaging) on a regular basis. Normally, the girls chatted with people they already knew, but one of the girls mentioned that she once had a conversation with another girl from England.
When asked what they thought about their Internet activity, the girls gave extremely interesting and varied answers. One girl claimed to have “outgrown email.” And a few stated, quite dramatically, that they would “die without the Internet.” Universally, all of the girls were concerned with their safety when engaged with the interview. Each girl was terrified that if they chatted to an unknown person, the person may end up being a forty-year-old perverted man. They all brought up the possibility of abduction and rape if they engaged in dangerous behaviors on the Internet and, as a result, did not talk to strangers. When asked where they had acquired their fear of old, perverted men, they identified their parents as the source for the idea and saw these stalkers as serious threats.
How their relationships had changed with the Internet was harder to gauge because they themselves were not sure about how their relationships had changed at all. The Internet had been a part of their lives for a long time and it was hard for them to imagine a life without it. However, many of the children had mixed feelings about the Internet and how it affected their relationships with others. Some claimed that they had been able to form friendships with individuals from school that they would have never considered talking with in the physical world. However, some claimed that the Internet had exactly the opposite effect. She said that “there are people that I don’t know that I hate now because they were mean to me on the Internet” (Interview with Sixth Grader: 2009). It appears that the Internet is a place for children and teenagers to expand their social circles, break up cliques, make cliques, and bully.
However, because these children are minors, there was strong parental supervision of the girls on the Internet. The parents of these girls used interesting methods to regulate their child’s Internet use. One of the fathers worked with computers for a living and had set up a program that monitored what sites his daughter visited. Another parent made a MySpace account to regulate how their daughter used MySpace and who she could become friends with. Oddly enough, the parent had allowed their daughter to lie about her age in order to get an account in the first place. Still other parents refused to allow their children to engage with social networking sites, such as MySpace or Facebook, until they were sixteen. Furthermore, there was one extreme case where the father did not allow computers in the home at all.
The boys’ experiences of the Internet were different from the girls in distinct ways. All of the boys interviewed were between ages eleven and twelve and had started exploring the Internet from the ages of five to eight. In the beginning, all of them used “little kid games” that featured a prominent main character, such as Arthur or Barney. Only one of the boys interviewed said they played multiplayer online games, such as Poptropica and Runescape, and the rest played single player PC games, such as Legos and Indiana Jones. However, despite the differences in gaming, they all watched Youtube regularly. When asked how they had initially started exploring the Internet or games, many of them could not remember. They said that they felt as if they had always been on the Internet. Others identified a friend or brother that introduced the game or Internet to them, though it was more common in games than for the Internet.
When it came to social networking sites there was only one boy who had a MySpace profile. Though he had lied about his age to obtain one, his parents knew about his page and monitored it regularly. The other boys did not have one and mentioned that their parents found social networking sites inappropriate. It seemed, though that parents had given much of the control of viewing websites to the boys as their only stipulation to the boys’ use of the Internet was to not look up or look at porn. Every one of the boys stated that, at one point or another, their parents had made this a prerequisite for their continued perusal of the Internet.
However, despite the increased leniency given to boys, the boys were still preoccupied with their safety on the Internet. They worried about sex offenders finding them online and engaging in inappropriate behaviors. As such, they said that they never made friends with people that they did not know. Similar to the case with the girls, the main source for this behavior and anxiety was the parents. Because the boys did not talk to strangers or people that they did not normally converse with, boys did not find that the Internet changed their relationship with their peers or family members. They felt strongly that they would have been friends with the people they spoke with online, regardless of the online connection.
Interviews: A Church Youth Group in Torrance, California
The group of children and adolescents interviewed at a small church in Torrance was mainly comprised of ethnic minorities; more specifically, of first generation Asian-Americans. Many of the children interviewed live with a single parent, though not due to a divorce, and reside in a low socio-economic neighborhood. Conversely, many of them attend private schools due to student visa issues. The participants of this study were between the ages of eleven and fourteen.
Girls in this group were mainly preoccupied on the Internet with Club Penguin, if they were under thirteen, and social networking sites along with a chat service, usually ages thirteen to fourteen. All age groups visited Youtube, though they did not post up videos or comment on others’ videos. The girls felt that the Internet enhanced their relationships and enabled them to be social at a level that they deemed to be optimal. With the Internet, they could stay connected to their friends, make new friendships, and talk to their peers without using having their parents monitor their talk time. Since many of them had immigrated to America, they used the sites to stay in touch with friends that they had left in their previous country of residence. Girls used social networking sites mainly to discuss their social activities and look at pictures of each other that they posted.
Boys, on the other hand, used the Internet mainly to game, usually on massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs). They often visited and played World of Warcraft. Though a majority of them had profiles on a social networking site, they did not use it for their main social activities. In fact, they barely used it at all. W stated that he used them only because everyone else used them and he would feel like “a loser” if he didn’t have one. Like girls, the sites were mainly used to stay in touch with friends that they could not physically meet otherwise or talk to people, usually girls, that they could not normally speak with in the physical world.
In terms of social relationships, girls felt that the Internet did not impact their relationships detrimentally. If anything, it enhanced their social relationships. Because of the lack of gaming, the girls used social networking sites and chat services to gossip and talk to friends. With the improved ability to socialize, girls liked the fact that they could carry on multiple conversations at once and inform a large crowd of friends as to what they were doing or what they wanted to say without talking to each one individually. Though they did say that there was more drama because they gossip could spread quickly, some did admit to a sort of enjoyment of a constant, upbeat social world. Furthermore, they felt that boys were more willing to speak with them online because they could not actually “see” the person face to face.
Boys felt that the Internet impacted their social relationships in very specific ways, especially in regards to speaking with girls. Gaming allowed them to connect with their peers and set a common interest that they could talk about. A majority of the boys agreed that games allowed them to overcome language and cultural barriers when around their peers at school. This allowed them to make friends easier and fit in with the cultural norm. In terms of social networking, the boys acknowledged that it greatly uninhibited them around girls. Because they could premeditate what they wanted to say and play off bad comments or rejections, they felt that it made them bolder. They also felt that girls were more willing to talk to them online because they were able to keep their conversations separate. Furthermore, they felt that the Internet allowed them to keep up on the friendships that that they had left in their home country.
Parental control, for both genders in this study group, was relatively lax, possibly due to the technological and language barriers between the parents and the child or adolescent. A small minority of the participants, only about two, admitted that their parents knew about their online activities. There was a general feeling of consensus between the children and the parents that as long as their grades remained high and they were not partaking in dangerous activity, such as porn or chatting with strangers. Every single one of the participants had access to a computer and the Internet at home, though none of them had parental control software to limit their experience of the Internet. None of the participants expressed concern over online activities and when asked whether they worried about their safety on the Internet , they were puzzled. They felt that the Internet was a relatively safe place because they could be anonymous towards strangers. Furthermore, they did not believe that there was a high probability of being approached by a sexual predator on the Internet as long as they were not engaging in dangerous activities.
An Analysis of Virtual Spaces for Children: Club Penguin
Imagine the winter wonderland of Antarctica. The continent is frigid but beautiful, there are massive glaciers jutting up from the ocean, pristine snow, and, of course, all those multicolored penguins. Though Club Penguin never states that it is set in Antarctica, it is clear that this is were the virtual world takes place. That is where most penguins live after all. There are a few discrepancies between the icy country/continent and the world of Club Penguin. The whole world is covered in snow but there are trees, ski lifts, a pirate ship, as well as a downtown area. In this virtual world there are mini games to play against other penguins. By playing these games the penguins receive coins. The coins can then be used to buy an igloo to live in or clothing and there is no shortage of variety. There are clothing stores all over Club Penguin that have quite a rage of themes. One could dress as a pirate or a ninja or choose from a huge assortment of different styles of regular clothes and accessories. The other incentive for getting coins is so that you can buy a “puffle”. A puffle is a kind of pet that is basically a small round ball of fur that comes in various colors and follows you around. In order to buy anything however, one must be a paying member. Access to the world and playing the games are free but in order to buy an igloo, clothes, or a puffle Club Penguin requires a monthly fee of around six dollars. Between the bright colors and the cute graphics it is not surprising that this game is extremely popular with the preteen and younger age groups and was bought by Disney for 700 million dollars.
What seems to be Club Penguin’s biggest strength is the protection it claims to provide for the children using it. There are two kinds of chat that kids and parents can chose from “Standard Safe Chat” and “Ultimate Safe Chat”. According to the Club Penguin privacy site Standard Safe Chat “allows players to type their own messages to other users. Every message is filtered to allow only pre-approved words and phrases, and block attempts to communicate a phone number or other personally identifiable information” (Club Penguin Parent’s site). To go even safer there is Ultimate Safe Chat which “limits what users can say to a predefined menu of greetings, questions and statements, as well as emotes, actions and greeting cards. When it comes to chatting, these users can only see other Ultimate Safe Chat messages” (Club Penguin Parent’s site). There is also an area for parents to check on their children’s accounts and see what they are up to and even set up how many hours their children can play in one day. What we found strange was that when one member of our group signed up for an account Club Penguin never asked for age verification. The site states that Club Penguin was created for 6-14 year olds but is open to all ages. One would think that people over eightteen would be discouraged from playing.
Though Club Penguin at first glace may seem like a silly little game for children, it is in fact a pretty complete world. It has its own time zone, Penguin Standard Time, so that children playing around the world will have an uncomplicated way to figure out when to meet. There is a newspaper that is almost entirely based on user submissions of original poetry, comics and advice columns. There are events that take place throughout the day such as dance parties and sporting events. The penguins even have a place to live, their igloo, that they can decorate themselves. Do not be fooled by the colorful cartoonish world; twelve million children live in this world daily and some take it fairly seriously.
Discussion and Analysis
Gender
In just a matter of a few years, there has been a great change in entertainment available for children and young teenagers. The 1990s had Barbies for girls and Legos for boys as the main sources of entertainment. However, as the late 1990s came about, technology changed the types and expenses of entertainment that were available to the youth. Computers and technology went from being a “relatively hard to use, almost esoteric technology, to an everyday domesticated tool.” (Tufekci, 3)In the 90s, there were very limited options as to how one could engage with technology or the Internet . Nintendo, the square, gray box that connected to the TV set, was the game system of the 1990’s time. The graphics available on Nintendo, the sole gaming device, were nowhere near “high tech” as those that can be found today. AOL (America Online) and the instant messenger service were the only sources of communication, which quickly became the “must be on” website. What the 90’s offered was nothing fancy, but in those days, what was available was something incredible, and what we have available now was unthinkable back then. Slowly but surely, children have had access to a variety of new things to keep them entertained. New computer games, online social networking sites, and virtual worlds are far more popular than ever before. Children are now spending more time on computers playing games, socializing, and networking with others, rather than the old fashioned way of actually “playing” in the physical world.Although the activities that children are partaking in today are different from those from a few years ago, it is interesting to see that the hegemonic gender order ideology is still being structured and shaped by our society. It has been shown that “from early on, research found consistent differences in types of use, with girls being less represented in programming and game playing.” (Tufekci 2008:3). From our interviews and data, we were also able to see that most boys (that spent time on computers) enjoyed playing games (such as World of Warcraft) more than spending time on social networking sites. On the other hand, it was evident that girls spent more time on social networking sites (such as Myspace and Facebook) and virtual worlds (such as Club Penguin and Poptropica) than online games. It has been also been proven in other studies that “girls game less often than boys and may be less interested, knowledgeable, and comfortable with STEM than…boys.” (DiSalvo, 131) [STEM: Science, technology, engineering and math] True to their gender roles, the passivity of girls and aggressiveness of boys are reflected strongly in the uses of the Internet they partake in. Perhaps this is due to the purity of their gender characteristics in the early stages of their life. Social gender order is something that is learned, not something that is natural. Boys are taught to be tough and strong, while girls are taught to be gentle, and nurturing. Stereotypically, boys are the ones that are powerful, aggressive and adventurous; girls are the passive, emotional ones that enjoy talking, and sharing gossip. As one can see from the data that has been gathered from the study, boys and girls are still participating in activities that are “fit” for their gender. They are engaging in activities that are appropriate for their gender to identify themselves with what society defines as appropriate. This shows that technology has changed the activities that children participate in, but our society still teaches children the same lessons about gender order generation after generation.After analyzing data that has been gathered, we found that girls and boys used the web for different purposes. Though the differences in online activity was clearly evident between the genders, “most youth use online networks to extend the friendships that they navigate in the familiar contexts of school, religion, organizations, sports, and other activities.” (Ito 2008:1) Girls enjoyed using the sites as another means of socializing, as they liked to communicate (via comments and messages), share “gossip”, and look at pictures. Boys also used the Internet to form relationship with fellow boys, but they did this by bonding over the web and playing games. Today, “gaming has become a pervasive social activity” where boys can “casually share technical and media-related knowledge.” (Ito 2008:26) This shows that boys form this sort of “relationship” with one another, but do so in an acceptable manner because they are often performing acts that are considered acceptable. They use gaming as a means to form bonds with other boys without crossing boundaries, where they can have close relationships but avoid any sort of social labels.
It can be concluded that behaviors and gender norms are still the same as decades ago. The only real difference is the kind of activities the children are engaging in today. Culture still shapes these meanings and sets a concrete standard of what is considered suitable for both genders, but it is with the use of our modern day technology. There is no right way to act like a boy, or a right way to act like a girl, but media and culture plays such a big part in structuring what is considered normal, that it makes it seem to be almost natural. It is evident that there have been a lot of changes in children’s activities in the past few decades, but it is clear that the hegemonic ideologies have remained the same.
Race
In our research on children and the level of their interaction with cyberspace, we looked at two groups of children. One focus group was chosen from a mostly White middle class school. The other was a group of Asian children who regularly attended a church. We could not however look at children of other racial groups. After interviewing the children, we noticed some differences in the answers we received. We speculate that these differences rise out of the different socio-economic conditions of the children.
Most of the Asian children Jessica (one member of our group) interviewed, both boys and girls, expressed that their parents or guardians monitored their Internet usage very little. Their parents either did not know English and could not therefore understand what their children were doing on the Internet or, they understood what the Internet is about but trusted their children to be doing the right thing. Many of the parents enjoyed certain aspects of the Internet that enable them to stay connected with family and friends, but at the same time were unaware of their childrens’’ activities.
Most of the White children Kelly (one member of our group) interviewed, both boys and girls, mentioned that their parents ’didn’t stop them directly from using certain sites. They do have programs on their home computers that monitor Internet usage. All their parents know and use the Internet themselves. The father of one girl has a Myspace to protect her Myspace. Both girls and boys mentioned that their parents had warned them against sex offenders. Even the boys were extremely aware of the potential danger of an online predator.
Comparing the results from both focus groups, we find that the differences in the children’s usage of the Internet can be tied to their parents level of Internet awareness. The parents of the Asian children were less aware of their children’’s activities on the Internet. Most of them hail from another country and therefore their understanding of a lot of American popular media is minimal. Their major concerns are that their children are doing well in school and are not getting into trouble. While the parents of the White children are all English speaking, native born Americans. They have lived longer in America and know more about the potential dangers that are lurking about, and therefore are able to take more precautionary measures with their children.
Surprisingly, when the topic of talking to the opposite gender was brought up with both groups, it was Jessica’s group of Asian children that mentioned how they use the Internet to talk with the opposite gender. This may be due to the fact that ’Kelly’s group ranged from ages five to ten whereas Jessica’s group of children were thirteen or fourteen years of age. This might contribute to the awareness of how the Internet could be used to interact with the opposite gender. The boys mentioned how they use Facebook “to network with girls,” and that it is “easier to talk to girls on SNS sites because they are more willing to talk”, and that it is “sort of less personal than calling.” They use sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Gchat, MSN messenger, and AIM to scope out whether a girl likes them or not. One boy even mentioned that it was “very cheap” and that with the Internet there was “no need to go out and hang out” and that they could “talk for a long time without parental intervention.” When speaking with the girls, they mentioned how it was “easier to talk to boys here and get them to talk,” and that they think “it is because boys are shy.”
Across the board, however, both groups used social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace to network with people they already knew, either close friends or people they had seen at school or church and wanted to get to know more about. They have become closer friends with people they would not have talked to otherwise. “People already know many of the individuals they view on Facebook. More than 90% of Facebook users employ Facebook to stay in touch with or stay abreast of the activities of longtime acquaintances...” (Walther 2008:30). The children also use the Internet “to build friendships and romantic relationships as well as to hang out with each other as much and as often as possible” (Ito 2008:15). Social networking sites are an extension of the interactions that children engage in while at school.
Conclusion
The Internet has allowed children from all ages and a wide array of racial backgrounds to expand their social networks, to experiment with online gaming, and approach potential romantic interests. In an age where parents believe their children’s safety is continuously at a decline, more and more children are spending time at home, and not outside playing with the neighbors, as was common in the past. In times like these, children are turning to alternate methods of play and socializing. The Internet offers them a place where they can enhance their world experiences. However, the same dangers that faced children in the physical world also exist in cyberspace. Protecting our children requires knowledge, awareness, and open-mindedness. We want our children to capitalize on what the Internet has to offer while at the same time maintaining a safe space where they can grow and learn. It must be established that children’s experience of the Internet is vastly different from how the older generations experience it. Their early exposure to the Internet allows them to be increasingly complex in their usage of it. However, gender and racial influences still influence and create distinctions on how certain groups of children use the Internet. Almost stereotypically, girls and boys use the Internet for different purposes. How much of this is due to parental influence and personal preference is still up for debate. However, it is certain that regardless of how much has changed in children’s entertainment, the gender roles and race determine any child’s interactions with cyberspace.
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