Child's Play: High Tech Play

Do high-tech toys and games inhibit kids' development of important skills, or simply promote them in new and different ways?

By Anne Chappell Belden

When she's not searching for fairies in her back yard, 8-year-old Ella sits at her computer, logs on to ClubPenguin.com and navigates a blue, kimono-wearing penguin avatar she named Ayako Jr. through an icy igloo world. She chats with other penguins on the site and plays games to earn coins she then uses to shop in penguin stores.

"I like the games, but it's really exciting when I buy things for my penguin," Ella says. Ayako Jr. is the proud owner of a fur coat, a bathing suit, a blue scarf and five multicolored pets known as "puffles."

Ella also likes the site's social aspect. "I have a friend, and she calls me up and we meet on Club Penguin," she says. "Sometimes, I don't really remember I'm on the computer because I'm having a lot of fun, having a real conversation."

Fear not - Club Penguin is not a place where young penguins waddle wild. The site filters chat and has 70 moderators policing the activity of about 4 million users each month. Ella says she reports unruly penguins. "Once I asked if anyone wanted to be friends and someone said 'Sure … NOT!' I felt kind of sad and said, 'That's not very nice and I'm going to report you' and I reported her."

Welcome to a 21st-century playground, where kids of all ages plug in, turn on, log in and toggle electronic devices in the name of play. From early childhood on up, kids are playing with automated toys, computers and video games; they're meeting friends and strangers on social-networking Web sites and in virtual fantasy worlds. They are growing up in a digital age and are drawn to all the technology.

"To me it's all good," says Ella's mom, Wendy Belden. "This is the world we live in. Live in this world and don't pretend it isn't here. The future is technology."

What's the Worry?