Following up on Don’s post earlier today, there’s a good post up on YALSA’s blog regarding Stickam, which the New York Times (and I) just discovered this week.

It’s a “trend” story, which the Times loves. The key quote is from Parry Aftab:

“The only thing you get from the combination of Web cams and young people are problems.”

The use of the word “only” is highly disconcerting, particularly if you look at the site and think about the many, many positive ways in which Web cams could be used by young people (like video cameras, cameras, tape recorders, and pen & paper before them).

On a related note, this post from Jenny Levine indicates to me that there’s a parallel concern regarding Second Life, which a number of 2.0 librarian types are heavily involved in, and which possibly comes as close to virtual reality/Futureworld as anything else (and thus highly attractive to and necessary for young people). Even ALA’s president elect is on board!

We don’t address Second Life (or Stickam) specifically in our podcast, but both are clearly to be noted.