
Is it possible for kids to socialize well online? - actfrench
A lot of kids have been feeling really isolated during this time of social distancing. And it is impacting their mental health. At my company, we&#x27;re working on ways to build meaningful connections for kids online during this time of social distancing. I&#x27;m wondering if any parents here have found good ways for their children to socialize online? Or if anyone&#x27;s teacher has taken a good approach to this? Would love any examples of how you&#x27;ve made this work that I can share with other families who are really struggling with this right now.
======
uberman
For what it is worth, the best online socializing I have seen my kids do was
in zoom calls after formal lessons had ended and the teacher had left.

These after parties could sometimes last an hour after formal lessons had
ended and I could hear kids talking and laughing together in an organic way.
Something I never hear when my kids video chat with one other friend "head to
head".

So, my recommendation is find a way for kids to interact in organic groups.

~~~
actfrench
Thank you so much. That's great. How many kids were there in the "after party"
call?

~~~
uberman
My kid's classes of 22 or so probably regularly had 15 or so kids attend the
online version (the fact that so many kids did not attend online classes is a
disturbing aside)

After the teacher had done their lesson and left, my guess is between 8 and 12
kids regularly stayed to goof off.

------
dpeck
A video stream of some sort while kids are playing a game together, like
Minecraft or Animal Crossing, seems to work well. The game takes the place of
blocks/toy for them to interact with and takes the stress away from them
having to give full attention to each other which younger kids aren't really
equipped to do.

*ymmv, but it seemed to work reasonably well for my kid and his friends 6-9 yr old age range.

~~~
muzani
My kid (6 yo) does fine without the video streaming. It's also good because it
teaches her to practice writing. But she goes on rants on why people don't
know how to spell "your" and "please".

We have to carefully monitor her screen time because online socializing is
very addictive, especially for children. They can spend morning until midnight
on their phones if you let them. On the plus side, it's a good way to train
discipline - they can look at their phones after homework, a shower, cleaning
the dishes, and only until 10 PM. Just sneak a new chore in there every month
once they do the previous chores automatically.

