The New Homework, how do we parents keep up?

Spent last week in New York (as part of an Advisory Council for Symantec's new efforts around internet safety) focusing on how technology has become such a central part of our kids' experiences these days. My take: where there used to be two different discussions -- one about internet safety and one about parenting --today it's really just parenting. The web and connectivity (chat, text, social media) are that integrated into our kids lives.

It's also why I was interested in this blog post describing one mom's experience with her daughter and how her studying and web socializing are merging. Is that a good thing? Or a bad thing? Or just reality? How are you keeping up with this stuff?