The Internet Playground

Computers often evoke strong feelings in parents. On the one hand, there is a tangle of generational and class values, and on the other a desire to recruit children’s play for vocational training. At first computers appeared to be the ultimate fulfillment of adult desires to see play turned to a purposeful end, to use play for progress and child development-all this without children noticing the beneficial effects. Computers and the exploration of the Internet would make learning fun for children highly motivated by their intrinsic aptitude for computers.