At a recent conference on advertising to kids there was much talk about how parental attitudes to children and their safety is leading to a 'keyboard' lifestyle. We worry for our kids if they are out and about in the big (and bad?) world. We also worry if they retreat to their own space - their bedroom - and start surfing the net. Hence parents are happy to spend money on allowing their kids to participate in their own social worlds.

Club Penguin is one such social world. It has 4 million members.

The Belfast Telegraph had a good write up of social media sites aimed at girls. One - StarDolls - attracts over 6 million visitors per month. Another is WeeWorld attracting 4 million visitors per month where kids can dress male or female avatars.

Kids have always created fantasy worlds and used play acting to understand socialisation skills. Now they can do it online. Adults have Second Life but maybe it should be renamed 3rd Life as the kids are already there! Child psychologists as well as academics and educationalists are going to argue the value and/or damage of what is happening no doubt. But until we have young adults who have grown up through this we are not really going to know for sure. In the meantime the kids seem to be having fun even if their parents credit cards are taking a hit!