In this article, the author describes the technological, demographic, and market forces shaping this new digital media culture and the rich array of Web sites being created for children and teens. Many nonprofit organizations, museums, educational institutions, and government agencies are playing a significant role in developing online content for children, offering them opportunities to explore the world, form communities with other children, and create their own works of art and literature. For the most part, however, the heavily promoted commercial sites, sponsored mainly by media conglomerates and toy companies, are overshadowing the educational sites. Because of the unique interactive features of the Internet, companies are able to integrate advertising and Web site content to promote "brand awareness" and "brand loyalty" among children, encouraging them to become consumers beginning at a very early age. The possibility that a child's exploration on the Internet might lead to inappropriate content, aggressive advertising, or even dangerous contact with strangers has given rise to a number of efforts to create "safe zones" for children -- that is, places in cyberspace where children can be protected from both marketers and predators. Federal legislation now requires parental permission before commercial Web sites can collect personal information from children under age 13. Several companies offer filtering, blocking, and monitoring software to safeguard children from harmful content or predators. Generally lacking in debates concerning children's use of the Internet, however, is a more proactive definition of quality -- one that would help ensure the creation and maintenance of Web sites that enhance children's learning and development and not merely keep them from harm. In the concluding section of this article, the author recommends actions to promote development of a quality media culture that would help children become good citizens as well as responsible consumers." (2000) Montgomery (2000) additionally notes: "At the eye of this cultural, technological and economic hurricane is the Internet, itself the site of tremendous change. In its short history, the Internet has undergone several critical transitions, evolving from a non-commercial, publicly funded, closed network that connected government agencies and research institutions into a privatized and increasingly commercialized global 'network of networks'." (Montgomery, 2005) the generation born after 1979 represents the "largest generation of young people in the nation's history." They are the first to grow up in a world saturated with networks of information, digital devices, and the promise of perpetual connectivity." (Montgomery, 2005) and simultaneously, adults are experiencing a struggle to "understand the new media." (Montgomery, 2000) Children are described as "marching into the digital age with great alacrity." (Montgomery, 2000) the time that children spend watching television is declining while time spent in front of the computer is on the rise. Average television hours per week is stated by Montgomery (2000) to be 17.2 hours as compared to the 15 hours spent in front of the television by teens in 2001 and reported by Kline (2001). Children's games and toys are "gaining new power and sophistication through the new digital circuitry" that parents are using in which "household appliances and home entertainment centers are being give onboard intelligence and networked connections to more powerful systems..." (Montgomery, 2000) Montgomery (2000) additionally relates that new media is being used by children in a manner "far different from the ways they interacted with television, radio and the print media, and they have a different relationship with the media than their parents had." (2000)

The Internet is described by Montgomery (2000) as: "a vast collection of interconnected computer networks that allows the intermingled transmission of text, graphics and sound files. The low barriers to entry to this new medium allow any individual or institution to create a site on the World Wide Web, which has grown at a staggering rate over the past several years, from about 26,000 sites in 1993 to more than 5 million today." (Montgomery, 2000) Added to this, the enormous number of Web sites has resulted in the creation, by necessity of search engines that are specialized and Web portals that allow for easier organization and navigations of what is a greatly expanded body of content. In 2000 Montgomery reported that the media companies by the dozens were "already involved in the children's media business...staking their claims in the rich fertile landscape of the Internet. Many commercial television channels, as well as individualized programs now have corresponding Web sites - and increasing the two are being developed in tandem." (2000)

The work entitled: "The Legal Web of Wireless Transactions" published by Rutgers Computer & Technology Law Journal. And written by Brantley, et al. (2003) which states:

The wireless web creates an exciting new marketplace for consumers and businesses...

For consumers, the flexibility and freedom afforded by wireless handheld devices such as Palm[TM] and BlackBerry[TM], mobile phones, and even watches with wireless capabilities, provide an "untethered," "ubiquitous," and "unbounded" lifestyle. (1) for businesses, the wireless medium creates a new venue for their services and products, one in which businesses can furnish information to and collect valuable information from and about consumers conducting wireless transactions. Although the recently slowing economy has caused some companies to scale back their mobile commerce initiatives, (2) most experts see wireless transactions, also known as "mobile commerce" or "m-commerce," as the future of technologically advanced business transactions. Given the growth projected for this market, businesses will inevitably make large investments in order to secure a niche in the wireless world." (Brantley, et al., 2003)
According to Brantley et al. (2003), in the area of 'Privacy and Security': "businesses that hope to win wireless consumer confidence and increase participation in the new wireless marketplace must minimize consumer privacy and security concerns." Ensuring privacy on the wireless Web means complying with laws regarding the collection and use of "personally identifiable information" about wireless customers and dealing with the legal consequences of "location technology," a unique feature of wireless devices. Ensuring the security of m-commerce means protecting customers from unauthorized "eavesdroppers" and those who might use information transmitted wirelessly for unauthorized or fraudulent purposes. However, in light of the September 11, 2001, terrorist acts, Americans may be more tolerant of, and the U.S. Government may be more insistent upon, incursions into areas that were typically perceived as private." (Brantley, et al., 2003)

The work entitled: "Task Force Report: Media Psychology and New Technologies" written by the Division of Media Psychology of the American Psychological Association Task Force Co-Chairs "Bernard J. Luskin and Ph.D. Lilli Friedland, PhD. relates the following facts in the executive summary of the study:

1) Over the past half century, the computer market has matured, television and other devices have dramatically evolved, and the telecommunications industry has globalized. The digital world is emerging. During this 50-year period, telecommunications and media programs, services and devices have morphed and fused with each other, evolving into a new breed of multimedia. With these advances, new careers, new occupational specialties and new fields of knowledge are developing. Knowledge technologies affect knowledge industries.;

2) No matter which future formats and distribution systems prevail, the new progeny is hungry for access, choice, content and experience, and its appetite is ravenous. Behavior is the compliment to distribution. The message and the massage are separate and each is important;

3) Telecommunications, the Web, the merger of the TVPC and new knowledge of how to use them is now empowering publishers to raise content to the next generation;

4) the future for all of us will be dramatically affected by the many new markets and technologies that will result from the wired and wireless networks. The expedient functioning of education, medicine, government, business, entertainment and mass consumer consumption is being bound continuously more tightly to the Internet, the PC, the TV and whatever each will become.;

5) Regardless of the power of the technology itself, people will only embrace something they want or need. Content, programs, and services must become "design rich" if people are to respond to them favorably;

6) New options for new times are about design, interface, graphs, publishing, and personalized and interactively transactional programs which are easy to use, accessible and in demand. Ease of use, creative range, merging of electronic communications and new media require understanding, skills, and vision that must be supplied with emerging new fields. It is the knowledge technologies of publishing that will carry the day, not the hardware. Audience is becoming community. Interaction is becoming transaction. and, transactions are manifestations of behavior;

7) Media Psychology as a field of knowledge for users, practitioners, and professionals is now important. Understanding human behavior, including the "you attitude," accurate empathy and experiential response, is the key ingredient to success in the emerging new fields;

8) the new media is supporting corporations in developing, marketing, positioning and branding new products and services. Professions in medicine, health and psychology are using new media to make their work more efficient and cost effective. Political participation, learning, data assimilation, personal development methods and deficiency correction now involve all aspects of media. Crime, including terrorism, hostage management, forensic medicine, and media-assisted…