Virtual Reality

 When I was a teen I spent a lot of time making collages on heavy board paper. I'€™d spend hours cutting out letters from magazines, pasting in photographs of friends (I had to pay for the development of the negatives with my babysitting money), and drawing in school spirit slogans with heavy marker. I'€™d place the artwork on my bedroom wall or make some smaller versions for friends.I could do this for hours into the night while whispering the latest gossip into the phone with a best friend -- and later, with a boyfriend.

I would have loved the Internet back then. This comes to mind because my daughters are now doing the same thing. Their current venue is the Beacon Street Girls website, based on the book series. Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend both girls spent hours creating their virtual "€œlockers"€ with cool backgrounds and fun stuff to fill them with. My older daughter, 11 going on 16, joined a number of groups; she was completely amused and proud when she gave another member a compliment and then received one back. She has since helped her school friends set up their accounts (she did the same with Skype). It's all very polite and creative. It'€™s pre-MySpace. Even so she had instant “friends” – several of the Beacon Street characters automatically became part of her friend group (which characters appeared depended on a matching of traits and interests at registration). But after a while she asked me for a shoebox and pulled out the paper and scissors. She created her own 3D locker and put her miniature toys inside. Hands on. Tangible. Readily visible. A white papewas recently issued by the MacArthur Foundation, entitled the Digital Youth Project.  It is based on numerous qualitative studies over the past three years with children, teens and young adults about how they perceive and use new media. It confirmed for me that kids are doing what they always have done: connecting, creating and working through identities. What has changed is the landscape. New media offers more tools for children and adults to communicate; it doesn'€™t replace the old ways.

Take it from my third grader. She seems to have struck a balance with real play and virtual play. Time will tell how she will negotiate technology within her intuitive and imaginative sensibilities.