I get pretty amazed all the time at the things my kids seem to know and at the knowledge they often display.

All sorts of stuff from the latest in rocket science to new developments in alternative energy fuel sources, to the very latest emerging legal technicalities in a popular musician's controversial trial they are learning and soaking in information from the tube at an amazing rate, all sorts of stuff that they do not even learn in school.

Despite having grown up with Television myself, I honestly do not remember ever being that knowledgeable about such a wide range of different subjects and topics.

Of course the battle to keep them off the tube long enough for them to do some decent amount of school work, still rages more than ever. And mostly it is battle that many parents all over the world are losing, whether they like it or not and whether they know it or not.

Many times I trace back the source of my kid's information to Television and do bear in mind the fact that we are well into the information age where the World Wide Web or internet is supposed to be ruling as the undisputed heavy weight champion and king of all mediums. Is it not amazing that Television still rules in terms of educating us all?

My own personal habits that I have unconsciously developed in recent years still point to Television being the major education tool even for me. I often watch something interesting on the tube that sends me to the World Wide Web for more information. See how these two mediums are working together in our lives? Indeed many of the other mediums these days, like newspapers, radio and books seem to be constantly sending us back to the World Wide Web for more information. Usually it is for more depth while at other times it is for more recent developments and updates on the subject of interest.

By the way, like most working parents, I do not watch very much Television these days. Still I tend to gather lots of information on the few occasions that I do find the time to watch a little Television.

Whatever the case, the internet seems to be very efficient and useful in providing more information. However it is clear that the initial information and education is still provided by the tube.

Yet it was not too long ago that some people had started predicting that Television was on its way out with the emergence of the World Wide Web or internet. These guys must have gotten really excited when research figures, proving that the net was the first medium in decades to cause people to watch less Television, started coming in.

Still there is no sign of Television disappearing from our lives, at least not any time soon. And if anything, history tells us that Television will only redefine itself but will never disappear. The introduction of new mediums throughout history has yet to cause the demise of previous other mediums. For example books did not disappear when newspapers came and neither did newspapers exit when radio came. Today radio still thrives long after Television took over as king. And so it stands to reason that Television will not disappear, even as the internet continues to become more and more important to our daily lives.

So the scene in our home in the living room continues to be the pretty much the same old and familiar one. My son armed with the remote and his siblings arguing with him over which channels he should flip to and which ones he should not. My daughter's interests are naturally very different from those of my son and it is not really just an age thing at all.

Once in a while they will arrive at a channel that they all want to watch. This is of course increasingly rare and order only truly exists when that remote is firmly in my hands. Then I get only polite requests and equally polite and swift compromises.