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Parents need help figuring out how to set limits with new media and making sure it doesn’t replace one-on-one time talking with their children, which experts agree is still the most valuable learning tool of all.

in addition to identifying quality in children’s media, is getting parents to understand the importance of setting limits and guiding their children’s media play.

before using technology with young children, teachers and parents should ask themselves: “What’s the value added at this particular developmental level?” and, “What can technology offer that other things can’t offer?”

the larger picture painted by today's statistics is hard to miss: Media is embedded in children's lives and dominating hours of their days, while reading is trailing behind. The next trick is to tease out what I call the Three C's: the content, context and the individual child. What kinds of media -- what TV shows, which online games? Who's with them as they read and play, and how is that experience integrated into what they are learning or interested in? And what ages and dispositions of children are drawn to what kinds of media for what reasons? Until we can answer these questions, we will continue to be in the dark about the impact of media and its complicated connection to literacy among the next generation.