TV: PBS Frontline Growing Up Online

I just watched the PBS Frontline special Growing Up Online. PBS has made the full version of the program available online, along with extended clips, discussion boards, and chat room (live on Wednesday 01/22 at 11 a.m. ET).

While I am quite familiar with the issues and technologies highlighted in the piece, I was pleasantly surprised by the balanced vibe of the program. The fear of helicopter parents faced with a cavernous digital divide is addressed, but so is the fact that much of the hysteria is overblown. It is little wonder that this tightly controlled generation has taken to the Internet as an open social outlet. What is not lost within the piece is that the Internet is our new reality and that it is better for adults to understand the online world and appreciate the abilities of their children to negotiate it, rather than attempt to ignore or block its existence. As several kids in the piece noted, if they are blocked from access they will simply go elsewhere to connect to their online lives.