DaytonDailyNews.com

DAYTON — — The class of 2007 has grown up using computers in ways that were yet unheard of in their parents' generation. Computers connect them to their communities and to their world.

They grew up in homes where computers were as much a fixture as the television. They use computers for research, for homework, for shopping, and for social reasons. Social Web sites like FaceBook and MySpace are often in the news for negative reasons, but students appeared to be very grounded when it came to such sites at the recent roundtable discussion at the Cox Ohio Publishing Media Center.

When asked how many hours a day the students spend online, the responses varied at the roundtable from an hour to up to four hours a day.

In general, MySpace got a thumbs down from the students at the roundtable. One student called MySpace "creepy."

"It's all middle school and creepy old people," said Julia Kissell of Kettering's Fairmont High School.

Facebook appeared to be much more popular with the students than MySpace. When asked what they do in Facebook, one student responded "I don't know."

"I love Facebook," Ellen Vonderbrink said. "I usually go online before I go to school each day."

Vonderbrink said Facebook allows her to talk to people she usually doesn't see.

"It's like (checking) your voicemail each day," she said.

Ben Roerig of Fairmont said: "It's easier to comment on something through Facebook than sending an e-mail."

Justin Bale of Fairmont added, "But it takes away from human interaction.

"There's a happy medium between keeping up with people and obsessing," he said.