Social Networking Leaving Little Time for Real Social Interaction in Kids

A new study have found that more and more parents are concerned that increased amounts of time their children spend online, social networking, twittering and instant messaging each other is decreasing their face time with family members. According to the study from the USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future, which queried roughly 2,000 families, more than half of parents now restrict Internet use as a form of punishment. In addition, it seems the amount of time families spend with each other face to face has gone down 25 percent over the past three years, reports Fox News.

"As far as brain development goes, playing with toys, building things for younger kids, fantasy play are much more important in child development than what you're going to watch on a screen," said Robert Myers, a child psychologist.

But other experts in the field disagree. Karen Sternheimer, a sociologist who works on kids issues, says she's concerned about the flipside of this issue.

"It's the kids who never have been on Facebook, MySpace, who don't know the logic of social networking. I am more concerned in the long run that they will be left behind in the market place," insisted Sternheimer.

The study also found that parents who are concerned about their kids spending too much time in front of a screen have begun to apply supervisory approaches to the new medium, much like they do with television.

Source-ANI