Proven by Science: Surfing the Internet is Good for Teens - Neatorama

Scientists have finally proven parents wrong ... surfing the Internet is actually good for teenagers! Kids, print this out before the vast parents conspiracy shuts this down ...

Surfing the internet, playing games and hanging out on social networks are important for teen development, a large study of online use has revealed. The report counters the stereotypical view held by many parents and teachers that such activity is a waste of time.
More than 800 teenagers and parents took part in the three-year US project.
"They are learning the technological skills and literacy needed for the contemporary world," said the report's author, Dr Mimi Ito. "They are learning how to communicate online, craft a public identity, create a home page, post links. "All these things were regarded as sophisticated 10 years ago but young people today take them for granted," Dr Ito told the BBC.

The report calls teens learnin' on the Web as "geeking out": Link

Previously on Neatorama:

Surfing the Web is Good for Your Brain
10 Things You Should Know About the Internet

So, in other words those parents are just jealous of our profound knowledge and ability to work within the massive structure that is the Internet. Mwahahaha!

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Nothing better to prepare teenagers for interaction with adults in the adult world than having them spend countless hours all alone staring at a monitor!

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What's the interweb?

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I'm please to hear confirmation of what I already thought was true! In fact, as a scientist and rabid comic book fan, I've been toying with the idea of using a comic book science blog to draw kids' attention to the latest scientific developments.

I'd love to hear feedback on this idea from any teachers out there. You can check out some samples at comicbookscience.com.

Thanks for your input!

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i definitely learn a hell of alot more information on the internet than anywhere else
not all the information is useful, but a hell of a lot of it deinitely is

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While the benefit of learning the technical skills and such is by default a given, spending hours and hours on a computer isn't good.

"They are learning how to communicate online, craft a public identity, create a home page, post links."

Crafting a public identity? I think it's hard to say this is "good", seeing as it's never been possible to do before now. Also, spending hours and hours on myspace, I would argue, is actually more detrimental to a child's social skills and real life skills than not.

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Whatever!!! There is no way that being on myspace, facebook, twitter, for hours can be good for a teenager...I bet there is "study" that contradicts these findings.

Oh wait I just finished a study that being on Second Life, WOW etc...for hours and hour makes you a great, well rounded human being.

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I have to agree with some of the others here that while there is certainly some benefit to knowing one's way around the internet, that the idea of sites like myspace and facebook somehow help to develop social skills is laughable.

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Spending hours on the internet is still better than spending hours watching TV, which is what a lot of kids used to do.

Guilty.

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"Hey mom! Can I stay on just one more hour. But it's good for me!"

Thanks I am going to use that one alot!

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I am guessing that either a teen wrote this and it was copy and pasted here, or some teenager whined and complained until their parent wrote the article for them. I will agree that kids need to have some techie skills, but being able to comment on youtube videos and knowing how to read 1337 sp34k is hardly what I would call a skill. If anything, it is creating a world where kids and teens spend more time with a machine then they do real people, including their family. Being able to interact online and being able to interact in person are two totally different things.

And why (unless you are going to be a writer, singer or other public figure) would you need to establish an online identity? Besides, when your 30, that teenage identity will probably come back to haunt you.

This article = FAIL!

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No way.

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