A write-up of the study in the San Francisco Chronicle reflects that online games are integral to children’s social development in the same manner as social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace.
"There is this generational gap in thinking about the value that social networking brings," said Mizuko Ito, a University of California Irvine informatics professor who conducted the study.
The researchers argued that restricting kids from social networking "eliminates an important social and recreational activity and could leave them ignorant of how to interact, not only in their youth, but also potentially in their professional lives," according to
The report, which was noticed by Blue’s News, also mentioned some auxiliary benefits of time spent online. Many youths who got deeply involved in their online activities--a phenomenon the study called "geeking out"--learned to program computers, edit videos, or fix computer hardware as a result of their dedication.
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