If you’re anything like me you’ll grab your phone to read your newsfeed, blogs and email,  catch up on your social feeds, send a text, pay some bills, watch a cat video and make your Words with Friends move – all before you get out of bed in the morning.

Connection it’s deeply embedded in our daily lives – we live in a truly connected and networked society.  After a quick bit of Googling, you can find some mind-boggling stats:

• 50 billion mobile devices will be connected to the internet by 2020
• worldwide SMS traffic passed 8.5 trillion messages in one year (2012)
• 400 million tweets per day
• In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views or around 140 views for every person on Earth
• Facebook has 1.06 billion monthly active users

So what does this tell us?  It tells us that there are thoroughly connected networked communities with insatiable appetites to communicate.  It’s a connected world. But for many, the upside of this technology remains a mystery.  We have a digital divide in this country that means many people do not experience the social or economic benefits new communication technologies can offer.

At the Telstra Foundation we’re focussed on improving connection for everyone.  We play in the innovation space – backing big and small ideas that leverage “tech for good”.  We’ll be posting more about our partners and the digital innovation projects that are making lasting and positive differences across the country (www.telstrafoundation.com) – stay connected with us!