They go online and talk on the phone simultaneously. They hop from medium to medium without distinguishing among them. A big theme for the academics at the conference was that now, until all have Internet access, we should be focusing on text because it's accessible, doesn't require broadband access. The project supports 5 languages, but the kids speak 22 in the Web site, and they translate their own material. Since the rule was that nobody can be excluded, they translate and transcribe everything into e-mail for the kids who can't access the Web.
People assume the intensity and the time spent on the computer by children constitute addiction.
People usually approach the screen in the spirit of self-reflection. Teachers, parents, and counselors need to be ready to help kids metabolize what they're doing on screen and see it as a very productive place to work through issues. She told us emphatically that there needs to be more professors and researchers working in her field. I'm particularly concerned that we have no ongoing federally funded research into education and how the media affect it. We have nothing like that.