Today’s story by Joe Crawford about kids and social networking touches on something that many parents, I suspect, will have a hard time believing or accepting.

The story looks at a study released today by the MacArthur Foundation that examines, among other things, the time spent by kids on social networking sites likes Facebook and MySpace. Researchers found the kids are doing much more than wasting time on those sites. Among other things, they are learning how to live.

Whether we like it or not, we are increasingly living in a digital age. And so much of our world’s social interactions are taking place online, assisted by the e-mail, texting, instant messaging and social networks. Those are skills that kids need to have.

Contrary to adult perceptions, while hanging out online,
youth are picking up basic social and technical skills they
need to fully participate in contemporary society. Erecting
barriers to participation deprives teens of access to
these forms of learning. Participation in the digital age
means more than being able to access serious online
information and culture.

Of course, the study’s authors acknowledge that some kids can take it too far - as in anything else. I do wonder how many parents out there see benefits in their kids being engaged in the MySpaces of our world. Are you buying what these researchers are saying?