You may view new media in the hands of young people as an essential tool to personalized, interest-driven engagement—OR as a dangerous distraction from real-life interaction and learning. Mimi Ito is a cultural anthropologist who challenges us to look beyond this either/or debate and consider the digital world from the perspective of diverse youth. Author of Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media, Ito has extensively researched the wide ranging and often surprising ways young people use technology and new media. In this she shares essential takeaways from her research, including ways the online world can be used to support learning, sharing, and social connection, and how parents and educators can support those kinds of engagements.