By TAMAR LEWIN


Good news for worried parents: All those hours their teenagers spend socializing on the Internet are not a bad thing, according to a study of American teens by the MacArthur Foundation.

“It may look as though kids are wasting a lot of time hanging out with new media, whether it’s on MySpace or sending instant messages,” said Mizuko Ito, lead researcher on the study, “Living and Learning With New Media.”“But their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page.”

The study, conducted from 2005 to last summer, describes newmedia usage but does not measure its effects.

Ms.Ito, a research scientist in the department of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, said some parental concern about the dangers of Internet socializing might result from a misperception.

“Those concerns about predators and stranger danger have been overblown,” she said.“There’s been some confusion about what kids are actually doing online. Mostly, they’re socializing with their friends, people they’ve met at school or camp or sports.”

The study, part of a $50 million project on digital and media learning, used several teams of researchers to interview more than 800 young people and their parents and to observe teenagers online for more than 5,000 hours.

Because of the sense among adults that socializing on the Internet is a waste of time, the study said, teenagers reported many parental restrictions on their online activity, but most found ways to work around such barriers and stay in touch with friends throughout the day.

“Teens usually have a ‘full-time intimate community’with whom they communicate in an always-on mode via mobile phones and instant messaging,” the study said.

This is not news to a cluster of New York City teenagers who gathered after school recently to talk about their social routines. All of them used MySpace and instant messaging every evening to stay in touch with a dozen or two friends.

“As soon as I get home, I turn on my computer,” said a 15-year-old boy who started his MySpace page four years ago.“My MySpace is always on, and when I get a message on MySpace, it sends a text message to my phone. It’s not an obsession; it’s a necessity.”

Only one student, a 14-year-old girl, had ever dropped out of online socializing - and that lasted only a week.“It didn’t work,” she said.“You become addicted. You can’t live without it.”

Teenagers also use new media to explore new romantic relationships, through interactions casual enough to ensure no loss of face if the other party is not interested.

While online socializing is ubiquitous, the study found, many young people move on to a period of tinkering and exploration, as they look for information online, customize games or experiment with digital media production. What researchers call “geeking out” is the most intense Internet use, in which young people delve deeply into a particular area of interest, often through a connection to an online interest group.

“New media allow for a degree of freedom and autonomy for youth that is less apparent in a classroom setting,” the study said. “Youth respect one another’s authority online, and they are often more motivated to learn from peers than from adults.”