Learning Signs

Today at the Apple Store in Oklahoma City, I’ve been playing with the new MacBook Pro laptops and using Google’s new “show options” features. Alexander asked me to Google his name, and in doing so we discovered Carolyn Y. Johnson’s March 7, 2007 article for The Boston Globe, “Space for everyone: Social networking websites, once purely teen territory, attract all ages.” Alexander doesn’t remember being quoted for this article, but I do! I gave the reporter his mother’s cell phone number so she could interview him about his use of websites like Club Lego and Imbee. Here’s the quotation of Alexander from the article:

Alexander Fryer is interested in more basic forms of play online. The 9-year-old from Edmond, Okla., began using social-networking websites two years ago, before he could even type, frequenting club.Lego.com to build his own virtual projects.

“It’s been exciting because you can see how many people have actually seen what I’ve done,” he said.

Today, the third grader uses ClubPenguin.com, where every child has his or her own penguin and igloo, and has tried out Imbee.com. His father, Wesley, said both sites offer a safe social-networking experience in contrast to the MySpace page, which has been criticized for allowing young people to post revealing personal details.

It’s important to monitor and manage our digital footprints online. I don’t think I ever read this article when it was originally published in 2007. It’s amazing to see how much Alexander has continued to learn online (as have his sisters) since that article was written two years ago!