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10-03-2008

The project ’A different life’ started in Finland

The life of young people becomes more and more virtual. The Internet is the medium youngsters use most; with it they spend many hours a day. What does the virtual life of children and young people look like and how much time do they use for it? We hope that the project ’A different life’, financed by the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, will help us to find answers to all these questions.

The main reason why this project was started in the beginning of this year was the need to learn more about the possible effects of the virtual life, e.g. youngsters becoming overweight, bad physical condition and Internet dependence.

The project 'A different life' deals with preventive methods and education to parents and persons who work with children and young people. Tools that would help to reveal dependence on the Internet and computer games are being developed. The goal is to forestall undesired development and encourage healthy social Net relations.

The documentation of the project also offers help to parents and adults who deal with children in their work with media education. The project deals with the effects of the Net life on the real life. The research fields of the project are Internet forums, virtual worlds and computer games.

Edited by Tarja Terävä tarja.terava@nifin.helsinki.fi

Toinen elämä –hanke (’A different life’ in Finnish)