Comment: Can you Digg it?

Blog, Wiki, Folksonomy, Social networking, Web 2.0, Del.icio.us, Flickr, RSS, Digg, Vodcast and VoIP. If you've heard of three or more of these high-tech web-speak terms, you're doing well.

The news this week that Google is buying YouTube.com for around £1.7bn will mean little to many in the optical professions. Except, that is, for those in their early 20s. For it is these 'digital natives' - born after 1980 - who are likely to understand what YouTube does, and perhaps why Google is willing to invest in it.

The internet is frequently seen in a negative light by eye care professionals. Online registration of CET points has aggravated some while online retailing of spectacles by the unqualified has annoyed many.