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January 13, 2004 #
 "Save Westerblog!" Just imagine if Martha Dumptruck had some LiveJournal with those french fries and shake. I started to read the teen blog article in the NYT Mag on Sunday but after realizing this mess was headed to the guidance counselor's office (and not even for being hot for teacher!) I soon picked up the pace to a brisk skim. Then I got cramps and my breath shortened. On the verge of crapping myself, I quickly sprinted to the finish with nothing but pull quotes in my rearview. Let's admit it, the frail emotional problems of teenagers are only interesting in summer camp movies and coming of rage films like "Over the Edge" and "Foxes." In the old days, you sorted out problems by starting a band, building a skate-ramp in the woods, or getting drunk on the golf course. If teens now all start turning to the Internet for group therapy I worry they might wind up (porn link alert) here or in an online mass teen suicide. Let's not forget to make sure the other kids are alright too. I'm speaking of the younger, still salvageable ones. I was in Westchester over the weekend when I read the NYT article at a family friend's house and I wasn't all that relieved when the two daughters (around 10 yrs I'm guessing) showed me what they do online. They are allowed to visit just a couple sites which purport to be very popular with the grade school set: NeoPets DollzMania NeoPets is way more involved than you could ever imagine. The site allows members to take virtual pets on trips to obedience schools, strength classes, space camps and much more. To participate in these activities, points are needed which are accumulated by playing games and selling suspect inventory in self-managed customized stores. Serious flaws exist in this closed petcosystem. These not-keen-on-Keynesian-kids are allowed to charge whatever they want for anything from anti-itching powder to sandals. It's pure black market willy-nillyism! They use IM to bargain and make deals with other kids. This neo-classical-pets pricing scheme is surely plagued with favoritism and social prejudices. Until pro-active policies govern this microecono-meme, they are clearly headed for a system wide collapse with lots of pissed off stuffed-bearholders. The other site, DollzMania, I passed on quickly. You can check it out for yourself. Yeah, it's all about virtual dolls. Hmm, all this kid content needs to be properly averaged up. Perhaps this bonus photo, R-rated for language and violent stupidity, can do the trick. Archives "The Other Page" powered by Removable Hype. Copyright © 2003 La Otra Página, Inc. All nights observed. Feel free to email "info(at)krucoff.com" for questions, comments, stock tips, and family gossip. |
