Parenting in the Digital World – Some Facts and Figures

Digital communication is no fad and despite the fact that some institutions, including some schools, would like it to go away, it is a trend that is here to stay. Intel says that today, there are over 1.5 billion people connected to the Internet. It is projecting three billion by the end of 2015 and hopes the world gets to four billion by the end of 2020. Intel has a selfish reason for this prediction; it makes the chips for the billions of devices that will support this connectivity. ComScore says that as of November, total U.S. iPhone users grew to 26 million and total Android users grew to 42.9 million. That number is trending upward at a fierce pace. Although it’s hard to find one definitive source, the general consensus is that, worldwide, there are approximately five billion feature phones, 500 million smart phones and 60 million tablets and e-readers. And, of course, these numbers are trending up, also. So what does this mean? Maybe this year, your school will get the message that discussions of digital literacy, citizenship, and skills need to be part of the school curriculum. And yes, those same discussions need to be part of your parenting with technology agenda as well.