Few aspects of our lives, these days, fail to invite the
question: "How does that fit with the Internet?" Even so, the
conjunction of the Internet and cognitive development appears to
have been neglected by otherwise eager commentators. Certainly
there has been consideration of cognitive development and
computers. But that is a coarser-grained relationship. Accessing
and navigating distributed networks is a more particular form of
computer-based activity. Insofar as such activity has been
considered significant for psychological development, that
consideration has tended to focus only on issues of social and
emotional development. What makes the Internet distinctive as a
species of computer use? And how could this activity impinge on
children's cognitive growth? Arguably, accessing the Internet
has much in common with other computer tasks. Yet some of these
common features are exaggerated in the case of the Internet so
that they seem to redefine the nature of the experience. For one
thing, accessing the World