Anytime, anywhere connecting for kids!

That's what you call the "mobile Internet," and it's one explanation for the *other* digital divide - the one between grownups and kids. It's the "fixed Internet" (having a connected desktop PC wired to a wall somewhere) that we're used to and to which our household rules and so much online-safety research to date apply. The mobile Internet is enabled by the "wi-fi hot spots" proliferating throughout the world - places where anyone can connect wirelessly with anything from a cellphone to a game player to a "walkie talkie"). What 24x7 connecting capability means to families is less and less parental control over young people's access. This puts the onus on all of us - parents and kids - to work harder at developing the most effective filter there will ever be: the one that lies between children's ears, as my colleague Larry Magid of SafeKids.com first put it in an online-safety seminar years ago. Their own critical thinking and media literacy will be children's best protection, along with engaged parenting. The Digital Age calls for a solid parent-child partnership: They can help us with their tech literacy and we can help them with our life literacy, and that's a tremendous opportunity for parent-child communication and mutual respect. For more detail on what the mobile Internet looks like, see DailyBulletin.com.