From the San Jose Mercury News
November 20, 2008
Time online teaches kids important skills, study finds
By Sharon Noguchi
Hear that clicking sound?
It's the wired generation forwarding a new study to their peers and parents that suggests always-online digital kids aren't wasting time and deadening brain cells — they're actually engaged in important work.
By socializing, tinkering with technology and intensely delving into media, teens and children on the Internet "are picking up basic social and technical skills they need to fully participate in contemporary society,'' according to a three-year national study released today. That may give kids like David Portales ammunition for a few more minutes of computer time tonight....
Researchers, including participants from the University of California, Berkeley, and San Jose State University, conducted interviews, studied diaries, convened focus groups and collected nearly 10,500 profiles on sites such as Facebook and Neopets. The $3.3 million study, funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, found that youths use online networks to extend friendships, acquire technical skills, learn from each other, explore interests and develop expertise. This all takes "ongoing maintenance and negotiation.''...
This story also appeared in the Contra Costa Times