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American Morning

Girls Go Online

Aired July 05, 2001 - 09:19   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: More and more girls are going online, and the computer industry is taking notice. Manufacturers of computer games and gadgets and Web site designers are starting to go "girl tech."

According to a survey, the number of teenage girls online doubled from 1999 to 2000 and the number of girls ages 8 to 12 online grew by more than 50 percent. The survey results are included in an article in "On" magazine that looks at girls and technology and that article is titled "What a Girl Wants." It was written by Jyoti Thottam and she is our guest this morning in our New York bureau.

Jyoti, good morning, good to have you with us.

JYOTI THOTTAM, "ON": Morning.

KAGAN: What is it about online and technology that girls are starting to take notice and get more excited about this?

THOTTAM: Well, there is just so much out there for girls right now. And what we really found is that for whatever your daughters are interested in, whether it's soccer or music or whatever it is, there's something out there that we think they'll like.

KAGAN: And I think you brought some things with you?

THOTTAM: I sure did. Lots -- I sure did. Lots of girls like to talk to each other on the phone or by instant messaging, and so I brought some communication devices. Motorola has two really good ones out right now. This is their latest walkie-talkie. It's just $70, and it's got a great range, very easy to use. And you'll notice it doesn't come in a pink package,...

KAGAN: Right.

THOTTAM: ... but we think girls will really like that to use.

KAGAN: What about that fluorescent green one? I bet that would get a girl's attention.

THOTTAM: This is a little more expensive. It's about $250, also from Motorola, but for teenaged girls, they might really like it. It's a combination short messaging device, but it also has wireless Internet and you can use it as a cell phone, too -- quite a powerful tool.

KAGAN: What I took from your article is that boys might be drawn to the Internet and to technology because of games, girls, not so much, at least not now. Girls like the communication aspect like some of those devices you're showing us?

THOTTAM: That's been the conventional wisdom, but there are some games out there that we think girls will really like, too.

KAGAN: Such as?

THOTTAM: Mia Hamm soccer is a game for the GameBoy that I think any girl who's interested in soccer would love. And if your daughter likes mysteries, there's a great game from Her Interactive based on the Nancy Drew mystery stories.

KAGAN: Now, you're looking at...

THOTTAM: So there are ways to get girls interested in games, too.

KAGAN: ... relatively young girls that we're talking about 8 to 12. You see in other studies, like with girls with math, girls could do well with math when they're younger. Something happens like around seventh grade where suddenly it's not cool for girls, it seems, to be doing well in science and math and they kind of...

THOTTAM: Exactly.

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: ... towards another direction. Do you think that that's going to stick that these same girls who are eight years old now, when they get a little older in those computer science classes, we'll see them or there's going to be that same stigma of this isn't a cool thing for a girl?

THOTTAM: Well, a lot of that is up to the parents. We find that if you -- you know if you don't mark technology as a boy's things that girls will really follow their interest. There's a great Web site called funbrain.com and I talked to a bunch of girls in Trenton, New Jersey, at a school there, and they loved this. Even though the games were based on baseball, they just loved math and science and they loved playing those games.

KAGAN: So a lot of it is how it's packaged and how it's presented to the girls?

THOTTAM: And also, if no one stands in their way, we found that girls will jump on technology just the same way that boys do.

KAGAN: And then, do you expect this to then move on through the technology world? High-tech was supposed to be this great new equal playing field and yet that, too, is still very much a white man's world. THOTTAM: So far it has been and that -- that'll be the big question whether girls can really sort of get involved in technology in such a way that they're not just using the things but they're really the ones who are creating it. And we found that game playing is often a thing that -- the thing that draws people into actually programming and designing. and I think if girls can get involved in that, we could really see some big changes.

KAGAN: And then -- and then, Jyoti, there's also -- there's always the old, well don't do as I say, do as I do, and if parents were online that that would be a good example for kids as well. But the problem these days, the kids know more than the parents do about this stuff -- hard to be the example in this one.

THOTTAM: It's true and this is where it becomes really important for the mothers and the fathers to get involved in technology because girls notice what's going on in the home. And you know, if it -- if the mom and the dad are both online doing e-mail, paying their taxes, whatever it is, they'll notice and they'll follow your example.

KAGAN: Well, we took notice of your article and we appreciate you coming in and showing us some cool stuff for girls online. Jyoti Thottam,...

THOTTAM: Thanks. Thanks a lot.

KAGAN: ... from "On" magazine, good to have you with us.

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