Third Way , a progressive strategy center, has issued a report detailing the extent to which the Internet pornography industry influences children’s lives, and the steps parents, policymakers, the porn industry, and others can take to prevent harm to children. Among the facts the group cites: the largest group of consumers of Internet pornography are youth 12-17 years of age.

Common Sense Media is the leading nonpartisan, non-profit organization dedicated to improving kids’ media lives. Our mission is to give parents, educators, and kids a choiceand a voice about the media they consume. We believe in sanity, not censorship. We provide trustworthy information, practicaltools, and a respected public voice that help create a healthier media environment for children and youth.

Picture books on the radio? It sounds strange, but expert grandmother Nancy Pekarek thought it could be a great imagination workout for video-saturated 4-to-6 year olds, and she’s made it a reality, thanks to the low-power FM radio station WVLP in the Chicago suburb of Valparaiso, Indiana.

CFK reports from: Digital Television: Sharpening the Focus on Children
Event: Release of report, panel discussions
Organized by: Children Now, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association
Where/When: Washington, D.C., June 9, 2004

This event looked at the emerging technologies in digital and interactive TV, and their effect on children...

This article in Pediatrics, "Early Television Exposure and Subsequent Attentional Problems in Children," examines the first-ever study linking early television watching with later attention and concentration problems. Researchers from the University of Washington found that, for children age 3 and younger, every hour of television they watched led to a 10-percent increase in the likelihood of attention problems at age 7. Even before their first birthday, kids watch more than 2 hours of television a day.

Our year-end round up of reader’s comments covers a lot of territory, from TV watching habits to bilingual education. Find out which stories sparked a response from our visitors. As always, we love to hear from you!

Will "Baby Einstein" videos help your baby's brain develop? Or will staring at the flickering screen sedate your squirming toddler and interfere with his or her development? We don't know the answers--but a new national study indicates that for good or ill, the current crop of babies and toddlers is swimming in a sea of media.

These tips from Sound Feelings show simple steps to prepare your computer for you toddler or young child while giving kids an opportunity to develop computer literacy.

Learn the basics about the technology gap, get state-by-state data and read about the lack of appropriate Internet content for low-income and limited-literacy users in this 2002 review from the TechPolicy Bank.

Citing the importance of early brain development and language in its February 2001 policy statement on children and the media, the academy recommends no television for children under age 2, and that total media time for children ages 2 and above be limited to no more than 1 to 2 hours of quality programming per day. The academy also recommends removing televisions from children's bedrooms.