Chats online ease snow-day boredom

PORTLAND – Wednesday was another snow day for many students in Maine, but that wasn’t keeping them from getting together.

In a new twist, getting together to talk about school, sports and plans no longer meant donning layers of warm clothing to go outside. Instead, many were getting together online in the comfort of their homes.

During the height of the storm, Kristen Regan, 13, of Saco remained in her cozy bedroom, where she used the wonders of technology on Tuesday to chat with friends in a way that would have been impossible just a few years ago.

Regan spent part of the morning on her computer using America Online Instant Messenger to chat with multiple friends at the same time.

“If it’s nice out, I’ll go outside or go to the gym,” she said. “But if there’s nothing to do, I go on and talk to my friends. The best thing is that you can talk to your friends all at once. With a phone call, it’s just one at a time.”

For previous generations of kids, a snow day meant killing time munching on junk food and watching game shows and soap operas on the three major television networks.

But for today’s youths, a day like Tuesday or Wednesday meant using the computer to collaborate on homework, gossip about who’s going out with whom or talk about the big game.

Tom Martin, 14, also an eighth-grader at Saco Middle School, kept busy chatting with 70 friends on his AOL “buddy list” and utilizing his ability to look at the Boston Red Sox Web page.

Martin said Tuesday he would spend most of his day navigating the links on the Red Sox page, eating up the statistics, feature stories and other news about Nomar, Pedro and all his other favorite players.

After that, he said he might play some video games on his computer or PlayStation or talk to friends.

For Allie McGinty, 17, a senior at Greely High School in Cumberland, the computer provided respite from cleaning her room and watching television. She said she checked her messages whenever she had a chance. She also listened to music on Napster.

She said she believes the technology enlivens her life, but also may take her away from other pastimes.

“I definitely like the fact that I have a lot of information available right here at home,” she said. “But sometimes maybe I don’t go outside as much as I would if I didn’t have the computer.”

For Regan, that’s the idea. Chatting with friends online sure beats some of the other alternatives she had, such as shoveling snow.

“I’d be bored,” she said.