Facebook generation learning skills

source site - Study: Facebook generation learning skills - UPI.com

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Dec. 26 (UPI) -- Some parents worry children waste time online, texting or playing video games but a U.S. researcher found these activities provide social skills and learning.

Florida State University's Lisa Tripp, a member of a team of researchers who completed an extensive qualitative study on U.S. youth media use, supervised research and data collection at several Los Angeles middle schools that serve primarily low-income Latino youth.

The researchers found that most young people associate with people they already know in their offline lives through school or sports, but cell phones, instant messaging and social network sites such as MySpace and Facebook allow them to be in nearly constant touch.

A smaller number of young people also use the online world to find information they may not have access to and to connect with people who share specialized interests in activities, such as online gaming, creative writing, video editing or other artistic endeavors.

whatever your views on social networks, the internet and the likes of facebook and myspace - good or bad - one thing's for sure is that our lives in the future will certainly be very different from what it is now.