Is the Internet Harmful to Youth?

I recently read with interest about some recent research by the MacArthur Foundation into the use of the internet involving 800 youth and their parents over a period of three years.

Source: Facebook, MySpace Beneficial To Teens by By Mike Sachoff

While the internet most definitely has lurking dangers hidden behind many of the links, not to mention porn, predators, malware, misleading and outright untrue information, unsavory groups and more, there are also some very real benefits to youth.

Here are some of the conclusions:

• Youth who use social media such as MySpace and Facebook are developing important social and technical skills online that help them to be competent in the digital age. "The social worlds that youth are involved with have new kinds of dynamics, as online socializing is permanent, public, requires managing elaborate networks of friends and acquaintances, and is always on."
• The Internet provides a way for youth to interact and receive feedback from one another.
• Young people respect each other's authority online and are more motivated to learn from each other than adults.
• Online spaces provide unprecedented opportunities for kids to expand their social worlds and engage in public life
• Youth "learn on the Internet in a self-directed way, by looking around for information they are interested in, or connecting with others who can help them. This is a big departure from how they are asked to learn in most schools, where the teacher is the expert and there is a fixed set of content to master."
• In some cases the researchers found that parents and their children came together around gaming or shared digital media projects, where both parties found a common ground.

Your thoughts?