Digital communications are altering the way in which people interact, the extent to which they are attuned to a given “conversation” and the expectations of whatfriendships and other personal relationships can offer. The proliferation of devicesamong the young and the practices those devices enable and encourage is creating akind of social “experiment,” using one cohort to learn what effects such communicationscan have on acculturation and identity. Parents are concerned that the risks of the actualworld can exploit the innocence that the young often bring to digital communications,even as they recognize the wonders such systems deliver.We have noticed four specific effects of this digital-human interaction among theyoung: (1) Everything competes with digital communications; (2) A blinking light meansI’m not lonely; (3) Writing is better than speaking; and (4) Communications R Us.