I am online and have been since 1985. I do research, correspond, buy books, and occasionally I just roam the Net. Because they are kids and should be out roughhousing, touching, experiencing the real world. In a few years, the online world for consumers will have voice and video, which will reverse the current paradigm and force introverts to show their faces. In the interim, vigilance against creating new introverts means more involvement by parents.
Vigilance means learning about the Net.
We find by giving our sons limits and rights, they understand the limits because they also know they have rights. This vigilance must be better than what we have mustered so far. The Internet is an alternative world, an artificial non-tactile place that defies years of human evolution. It s a world and society where the endgame, for some, is a one-dimensional party that feels better than the real, more loving and more frightening world outside. Michael Schulman is a writer based in Maryland.