I think that the influence of mindless time-wasting has not been sufficiently studied.
I volunteer for more study on this subject.
I think a 5-year trial should bring a good comprehension of the subject, and will gladly submit myself to this worthy cause in exchange for food and shelter.

parents are in denial

Just like any social setting, the Net has the potential to be both good and bad for teens. How the Net is used defines the effect it has on most teens or adults.

You could hardly call live suicide online, a good point to promote the internet, or porn, identity theft, child solicitations, piracy, hacking, etc. all of which teens could be exposed to without proper supervision. Spending hours online instead of actually getting off one's arse and getting a real life, can be a major deterrent to healthy social growth.

So I wouldn't be so quick to call one study of 800 people a compelling, glowing endorsement of the Net for use by teenagers. A balanced supervised use of the Net would be far more useful than allowing yoof to waste away and develop bad habits.

I think it's very important that parents know what their children are into. It is even more important that they get involved & try to see the positives as well as the negatives.

Don't let your opinion of the world be skewed by the mass media just because of a few well known stories. Remember, TV news tends to focus on the negative. What went wrong? who is to blame? what blew up etc...

Who would report that millions of teenagers & in fact people of all ages & walks of life are browsing online quite happily & nothing bad happened?

The internet is a tool, this can be used for many ends.

Every existing generation is shocked by the new generation in some ways. This is to be expected & is a sign of healthy growth & much needed change.

Teenagers are mostly busy changing & evolving, finding their way, try to help out, if you can.

"Peer based learining! musbee y there riting loocks 4en? 

Isn't that the same as "The blind leading the blind?" Well, it's no worse or different from most schools now.