The Internet - Important for Teenage Development

An extensive US study into the effects of young adults and the time they spend on the internet has concluded that it is important for teen development.

The study, supported by the MacArthur Foundation, spent more than 5,000 hours observing teens as they used social networking sites (e.g. Myspace, Facebook), YouTube, and other such sites and conducted diary studies to document how, and to what extent, young people engage with digital media. Over 800 young adults and their parents took part in the study over a three year period.

The researchers discovered two principle areas during the study. Interest-driven participation found teens accessing on line information that wasn’t present within their usual peer groups, whilst friendship-driven participation focused on teens interacting with existing friends and accessing sites to which they were familiar.

Peers and adults have a motivational effect on young people to learn, the researchers concluded. The internet provides these learning opportunities, with new kinds of public spaces for youths to interact and receive feedback from one another. The study found that social and technological skills were learned, which are deemed as essential in this modern age.

“It might surprise parents to learn that it is not a waste of time for their teens to hang out on line,” said Dr. Mizuko Ito, University of California, Irvine researcher and the report’s lead author. “There are myths about kids spending time on line – that it is dangerous or making them lazy. But we found that spending time on line is essential for young people to pick up the social and technical skills they need to be competent citizens in the digital age.”