Do computers have a negative effect on children's social development?

Do computers have a negative effect on children's social development? 


A working paper  from the National Bureau of Economic Research reports the findings from a large-scale randomized controlled trial that explored whether owning a home computer has a negative effect on children's social development. 
  
The study included 1,123 students in grades 6-10 in 15 different schools across California. Students were eligible to take part in the trial only if they did not already have a computer at home. Half were then randomly selected to receive free computers, while the other half served as the control group. Surveys were conducted with the students and schools at the start of the school year to collect data on child and household characteristics and school participation. Follow-up surveys were then administered at the end of the school year, and the data compared to establish any causal evidence.
As predicted, Robert W. Fairlie and Ariel Kalil found that having computers at home did increase the amount of time that children spent on social networking sites and email as well as for games and other entertainment. However, rather than being socially isolating, children in the treatment group communicated with 1.57 more friends per week than children in the control group, and spent 0.72 more hours with their friends in person. They also found no evidence that the children who received a computer were less likely to participate in sports teams or after-school clubs, or spend any less time in these activities.

Johns Hopkins University 

Research in Brief

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