Although we’re running a business summit called Digital Living Room next week, all signs suggest it’s a misnomer.

Not that people don’t gather in their living rooms to enjoy digital media. They do. Some 70% of kids now watch TV while surfing online — and presumably text on their mobile phones. My 13-year-old and 15-year-old can attest to this.

It’s a misnomer because people increasingly aren’t concerned about where they enjoy their media. They want access to it anywhere, anytime.

"It’s social convergence enabled by divergent technologies," says Mike Goslin, vice president for Disney Online Studios and a speaker at DLR. "People may be scattered all over the place, but connected virtually."

This isn’t exactly news. The digerati have been preaching anywhere, anytime access to content for years.

Curiously, though, the virtual living room seems to be coming together a lot more quickly than the digital living room. While companies like Sony and Philips belatedly announce connected TVs by next Christmas, consumers are already watching TV shows on their laptops. Kids are texting each other about what movies to go to. And people are beginning to download movies, TV and other video content on their iPods.

The take-away is that it is simply foolhardy now to develop content for one platform. Whether its a movie or advertising campaign, the message must be delivered to a fragmented universe of devices whose sum is far greater than the unified whole the broadcast networks once controlled.

Once Hollywood and advertisers truly grasp this idea, they’ll realize that the much-heralded convergence of TV and PC in the living room is a mirage. Divergence is coming, and it’s better.

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