By Doug Adams, Knight Center of Digital Excellence

My life is not that different from most men in their early 40s. Weekends are hectic, filled with kids’ games, events and errands – all while never straying too far from “work mode” as I am connected via Blackberry and laptop seven days a week. Was life this crazy for my father when I was young?

My father might not have had three soccer leagues plus football to juggle, or a workday that extended beyond nine-to-five to deal with, but I can manage my responsibilities and take advantage of so many new opportunities thanks to broadband. In many ways, my life is very different from what I envisioned it would be as a kid – or even what I envisioned five years ago. While the substance of my life is much as I would have anticipated, I never imagined being able to watch my beloved Indianapolis Colts via an iPhone application at the same time as my son Jack is scoring a goal at his soccer game.  Being a supportive father in 2009 may require more work – but it is also a whole lot easier.

About a year ago, I introduced my son to U2. He loves the music almost as much as I do now, which is great – because what good is having kids if you can’t teach them to like what you like? Unfortunately, the 2009 U2 concert tour did not make it our way, but we watched the Los Angeles show this weekend streaming live via YouTube from start to finish.

Last weekend, I awoke on Saturday to my 4-year-old daughter on a Skype Internet call with her grandma in Connecticut. Zoe, a child of broadband and the numerous educational games available online, had dialed-up grandma on her own. Just an example of how her exposure to the resources on the Web have made her so aware of the present world around her and poised to compete in a future one.

We’re a multiple laptop family – so at the same time Zoe was speaking with Grandma, 9–year-old Abby was playing her favorite online game, which requires her to organize, prioritize and accomplish tasks before being rewarded with the next level. It’s no coincidence we’ve seen these same behaviors manifest in her daily life.

My family is by no means alone in terms of how pervasive broadband has become in our everyday life. Earlier this year, eMarketer reported that consumers, even in this tough economy, are scaling back in other places while keeping their broadband services intact. When asked what they would give up if forced to scale back, Americans ranked broadband way behind digital television and telephone service (both mobile and land lines). More than 66 percent of broadband users said they would keep broadband access at the same level or even scale up.

Tags: bandwidth, Blackberry, broadband, Broadband Expansion, Connecticut, digital, digital divide, digital television, eMarketer, FCC, Federal Communications Commission, high-speed, Indianapolis Colts, infrastructure, innovation, Internet, iPhone, Knight Center of Digital Excellence, laptop, Los Angeles, network, Pew Research Center Internet & American Life Project, Skype, U2, YouTube