|
April 15, 2003
The Back Page
By Amy Poftak & Kristen Kennedy
Gleanings
More Mouse = Less Couch
The UCLA Internet Project's latest report revealed what many parents already suspect: the Net is pulling kids away from television more than ever before. Thirty-two percent of adults surveyed said children in their household watch less television than before they started logging on. That's compared to 23 percent in 2001. Jeffrey Cole, the director of the UCLA Center for Communication Policy and founder of the project, explained that both adults and children are "borrowing time they previously spent watching television to go online." Overall, Internet users watch 5.4 hours less television per week than nonusers. The complete study is available at www.ccp.ucla.edu.
They Want Their Web, and They Want It Now
In a recent study, researchers at Usability News noted marked differences in how long older adults and younger study participants were willing to wait for a Web site to load. Twenty percent of 68- to 80-year-old Web users waited almost 2.5 minutes for a site to load and switched sites far less often than those in the 18- to 30-year-old age group. Forty-nine percent of young adults left for another site when faced with a delay of more than 80 seconds, with a full 70 percent abandoning a site even before the home page loaded. While impatience is indeed a defining characteristic of youth, study results suggest that younger Internet users have grown accustomed to high-speed downloads and quick Web access.
A New Take on Instant Messaging
Our February Trend Watch highlighted instant messaging technology that a handful of pioneering schools are using in place of a traditional school public address system. When asked if IM might be an up-and-coming mode of public communication at their schools, two-thirds of respondents to our online QuickPoll said "no," while one-third felt it was an innovative option for eliminating loud interruptions caused by PA systems, with the caveat that "public schools aren't ready to make such a change."
Hit List
Online/Offline
What do I want to do with my life? Start Something, an initiative sponsored by Target Stores and the Tiger Woods Foundation, helps young people explore this often perplexing question through a unique combination of written activities and community service. Organized in 10 two-hour sessions, the free program can be completed online or entirely offline; as part of an instructor-led group or individually; in a school, learning center, or anywhere a Web browser can be found. Central to the curriculum is an Action Project kids must carry out in the community-aspiring musicians organizing gigs at the local senior center, for example, or budding writers recording oral histories of neighbors. The twist? Once the project is completed, participants can apply for a scholarship of up to $5,000 to put toward their goal.
Worthy Cause
As Afghanistan struggles to rebuild after life under the Taliban, most of its children will be attending school for the very first time. With the help of the BluePack Project, many of them will now have basic school supplies. The project, organized and operated by the Academy for Educational Development, started last March when 40,000 packs of school supplies were sent to Afghan students at refugee camps in Pakistan. Now, the organization is raising funds to distribute another 200,000 packs to children in Afghanistan. The packs, which cost $10 each and include supplies such as pencils, pens, a chalkboard, and paper, are assembled by Afghan war widows, whose daily wage earns them enough to feed a family of five or six. So far, $800,000 has been raised for the project; U.S. students have sent $50,000. To get your students involved and help BluePack reach its goal, visit bluepack.org.
Read other articles from the April Issue
Send a letter to the Editor in response to this article.
|
