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Maxwell King was blunt in assessing the ever-growing industry that churns out television shows, video games, Web sites and other media for kids: We don't need more crap, he told the audience at this week's Fred Forward conference. There's plenty of crap already.

Media products for babies, toddlers and preschoolers represent what is now a billion-dollar industry. How young is too young for TV and video viewing? What sort of shows and Web sites help children develop, and which ones keep kids from interacting with the real world? Combing through the thicket of mindless videos and slickly marketed characters to find the worthwhile educational elements is anything but easy.

One highlight of the conference: A chance to help shape the national guidelines about the role of technology in children's lives, which haven't been updated in 14 years. The NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) has announced that they're revamping those guidelines this year -- a very necessary move, given that the technology and media landscape has changed so drastically since 1996.

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.