No, they're not influenced by blogs, but they are influenced by family members/other adults telling them, "Oh no, you don't want to play with that, that's for boys." Some of us were lucky to have had parents that had no problem with us having fun with computers and video games (partially because my mom loved playing with our Intellivision :).
But there's still pressure and expectations on what kids play with. Girls get dolls - they've not been expected to play with video games and the like.
However (as the demographics are showing) - that is changing. Parents weren't into games, it was just a toy that happened to be part of the "boy" group. But they've grown up, and still play them. I was rare in that my Mom and Dad introduced me into video games and that helped spark my interest in computers. I have friends who are parents who ask their daughters if they want to try this game or that game. I can't imagine most of my friends' parents growing up doing that.
Will that shift us closer to a more balanced demographic in tech? I don't know, I'd like to hope that coming generations of women don't feel pushed away from the field due to really artificial or societal reasons.
But there's still pressure and expectations on what kids play with. Girls get dolls - they've not been expected to play with video games and the like.
However (as the demographics are showing) - that is changing. Parents weren't into games, it was just a toy that happened to be part of the "boy" group. But they've grown up, and still play them. I was rare in that my Mom and Dad introduced me into video games and that helped spark my interest in computers. I have friends who are parents who ask their daughters if they want to try this game or that game. I can't imagine most of my friends' parents growing up doing that.
Will that shift us closer to a more balanced demographic in tech? I don't know, I'd like to hope that coming generations of women don't feel pushed away from the field due to really artificial or societal reasons.