Girls abandon dolls for Web-based toys
By Lini S. Kadaba
Inquirer Staff Writer
By Lini S. Kadaba
Inquirer Staff Writer
Paige Gabriele loved her dolls - once.
At age 8, however, the Swarthmore girl has largely abandoned them. Even Barbie gets slim face time, and the single American Girl doll, a gift from her grandmother, sits pretty on her bureau - untouched.
Playing with dolls "gets boring after a while," said Paige as she passed by the well-stocked aisles full of Barbie, Moxie Girlz, Liv, and other fashion dolls at the Target in Springfield Mall. She was more interested in a basketball, and gushed about social Web sites such as moshimonsters.com, where she nurtures pet monsters.
It used to be that dolls held girls' interest at least through elementary school. But these days, girls are dropping such playthings at ever younger ages, largely replacing the childhood mainstay with technology-driven activities, even as the toy industry battles to attract the coveted market with new products.
According to the NPD Group, U.S. doll sales have declined by nearly 20 percent since 2005 - and older girls are the least likely to have such toys. In 2009, 18 percent of dolls sold went to girls 9 and older, but 37 percent landed in the hands of 3- to 5-year-olds, the "sweet spot" ages, said Anita Frazier, NPD toys and video games industry analyst.
But ditching doll play says just as much about the erosion of childhood - as well as imagination and attention spans, argue some - as it does about the multitude of gadgets and activities that vie for children's spare time.
Lindsey Peppel, 12, of Phoenixville hasn't played with the fashionable figures for a while, instead favoring online sites, including Barbie.com, and Barbie video games (when she's not reading books).
"I don't think I'm good at making up imaginary things," she said. "I didn't know what to do with dolls."
Consumer psychologist Kit Yarrow, who chairs the psychology department at Golden Gate University and wrote the book Gen BuY, agrees that children nowadays need lots of stimulation to keep their interest.
But she said, that's not necessarily a negative. "Maybe," she argued, "this is preparation for exactly what they need when they grow up. The world these kids are going to be adults in is more souped up."
Others, though, say loss of doll play is a sign of the Microsoft speed at which children mature.
"Girls don't play with dolls as much or for as long anymore because they are being socialized by media culture to grow up faster," said Patricia Leavy, an associate professor of sociology at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass., who has witnessed a lack of interest in dolls in her own 9-year-old daughter.
After all, 5 is the new 10, and 10 is the new 15.
Often, young girls, called tweens by marketers, are pushed to act and look like teens, whether that message comes from the latest Hannah Montana TV shows, outfits at the Limited Too, or virtual playlands. Playing with dollies has little place in this world.
Tween culture "is transforming the lives of girls," Leavy said, and often to the detriment of self-esteem, she argued, with its emphasis on idealized images of beauty.
To understand why this matters, consider the role of traditional doll play in socialization.
"When little girls play with dolls, they're practicing being a mommy, practicing tending and nurturing," said psychologist Yarrow.
Although some say an avatar fills the role just fine, Leavy disagrees, calling online diversions "a different level of intimacy and connection. It doesn't have to be dolls, but I don't think it's going to come from a Web site."
Dollhood has grown to play a large part in girls' lives ever since the end of the Civil War, when toy companies proliferated.
Traditionally, even after baby dolls were outgrown, play continued with so-called fashion dolls, with different outfits, different personalities, and, in the case of Barbie, 125 different careers.
Now, the timeline is compressed. Many girls are done with fashion dolls at 6, having given up baby dolls at 3. (American Girl dolls are popular with tweens, but as more than one mother has observed, once they're brought home, they often sit in rooms collecting dust.)
What's next for them? Online doll play, where Stardoll.com and Barbie's EverythingGirl.com rank among the Top 10 Web sites for girls 8 to 12 years old, according to Youth Trends, based in Ramsey, N.J.
This summer, Mattel will come out with Barbie Video Girl, essentially a doll that's a video camera. She has an LCD screen in her back and a camera lens in her locket, and a USB cable enables girls to edit and share video clips taken from Barbie's point of view.
Last fall, Fisher-Price/Mattel introduced Dora Links, a grown-up Dora the Explorer that connects through its USB cable to the computer, enabling a girl to make online changes to her Dora avatar that result - like magic - in actual changes to the physical doll's hair length and color of her eyes, lips, earrings, and more. The product was expressly intended to keep older girls interested in Dora.
"We were losing girls," said Gina Sirard, vice president of marketing at Mattel. "By 31/2, maybe 4, they were out of the door."
According to Sirard, the doll with the long hair and stylish clothes - that tween look - has succeeded. NPD data, she said, show the Dora franchise now extends from age 2 to 6 plus. "We even get 7-year-olds," she said with delight. "They are very connected to that Internet. It would behoove manufacturers to tap into that."
Danielle Mauger's youngest daughter is already well-entrenched in online play. Although Mauger's 14-year-old still played with dolls when she was 8, her youngest, Kelsey, is that age now and "has zero interest in dolls" anymore, said the North Wales woman.
Instead, the child likes her iTouch (acquired from her sister) and Club Penguin, where penguin avatars travel a virtual world and friends meet to chat online.
"She will call up her girlfriend," Mauger said, "and the two of them end up on the phone giggling while they're . . . on the computer."
"They're dressing [avatars] up, they're buying things for them, they're feeding them," Epstein said. "In effect, they still have dolls, except there's no physical doll anymore."
