Consumer Reports WebWatch and the MediaTech Foundation released a report detailing the ways that kids use websites such as Club Penguin, Webkinz, Nick Jr., and Barbie.com.
Some key findings from the report:
Children as young as 2 ½ years of age are able to go online.
• The most popular young children’s sites are moderately to heavily commercialized. When rated by our test parents on a scale from 1 (not commercialized) to 5 (extremely commercialized), the 21 sites considered in this study scored a mean rating of 3.47.
• Web sites frequently tantalize children, presenting enticing options and even threats that their online creations will become inaccessible unless a purchase is made. Some sites show attractive options that invite a click, but lead to a registration form instead. Some sell a child’s prior experience – a room they’ve built for a virtual pet, for instance – back to them, using statements such as, "If you cancel your membership, then your belongings will go into storage and will be automatically retrieved when you re-subscribe."
• Most sites we observed promote the idea of consumerism. The most common technique uses a reward-for-work basis, awarding "points, coins or dollars" for success and achievement that can then be used to "buy" items such as clothing, makeup, big-screen TVs or other accessories for virtual pets or avatars.
• The games we observed vary widely in quality, in educational value, and in their developmental match with children’s abilities. Such mismatches often result in frequent cries for help.
The entire report can be found online here.
WebWatch has also posted video from the study on YouTube.
The report offers these suggestions to help parents create a safer web-experience:
• Keep an eye on the screen. Set up the home computer in a central location so you can see what your child is doing. Lend a hand or suggest an activity that matches your child’s interests or abilities and pay attention to the directions his or her activities take.
• Be suspicious of "free" offers. As in the real world, free lunches are rare, and this is a concept children can’t understand. Don’t expect young children (and many adults) to understand the well-worn caution: "If something looks too good to be true, it probably is."
• Read before you click. Before you or your children click on the "I agree" button, scour terms-of-use agreements and privacy policies to make sure you aren’t agreeing to share information you don’t want known. At worst, publishers make such disclosures inconvenient to read and awkward, so you are tempted to click an agreement and move on. Those emotions can be amplified when you have an anxious toddler pressing you. Also, don’t download software before verifying it won’t alter your computer’s settings.
Keep in mind the motivation behind the design of each of these sites- these are commercial sites and they all want you to buy something. In some cases the pitch is cleverly hidden- but if you dig deep enough you'll find it.
The point is that you should explore the sites before your child does- and you, not the marketer, should decide if the sites are appropriate for your child.
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