Bedroom-bound teenagers are building their social skills

If you haven't seen your teenager for days now, passing in food to their rooms where they sit slack-mouthed in front of a computer screen, you shouldn't worry about it. Scientists this week are telling us that kids who spend all their time in their rooms chatting to other kids in online chatrooms are actually practising their social skills - just not with you!

Justine Cassell, Professor of Communication Studies at Northwestern University, Illinois, who presented research at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in St Louis, tells the Telegraph: 'The internet is not diminishing community activity but simply transferring it to online communities. Young people who use them are getting just as much practice in leadership and social skills and community involvement as they did before the internet. Involvement might not take place in the school gymnasium or around the campfire but instead in online communities in the glow of computer screens.'

So any fears you had that your teenager had turned into a sullen recluse are completely ungrounded. What a relief!

• 13+Yrs: How To Parent A Teenager
  
• What Our Members Are Discussing Today
  
• This Week's News