Here's a pretty inspiring talk by the chairman of the FCC, Julius Genachowski, talking about how broadband internet access can help America's young people be successful students and engaged citizens. (Note that the chairman begins at about the 14:52 mark in this video.) He begins by outlining how much has changed in the past couple of decades:
When I was a kid, my family had one TV in the living room and one in the basement. Those were the only screens in the house. My parents had TV-watching rules that were easy to describe and easy to enforce (at least they thought so). Now it’s a whole new world, filled with many more screens – and with powerful opportunity, serious challenges, and lots of confusion.
Today, I want to talk about what these revolutionary times mean for our children and how we can seize the opportunities, tackle the challenges and hopefully bring some common sense... to this complicated landscape.
Chairman Genachowski then outlines an ambitious agenda focused on digital access, literacy, citizenship and safety. Then he gets some help from Elmo of Sesame Street to explain to kids why internet access is important. Elmo hates buffering!
