Parents of Internet- or TV-addicted teens finally have confirmation of something they have long suspected: the more screen exposure teenagers get, the more detached they are from those around them. Those are the findings of a paper set to be published in the March issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, which examined the relationship between adolescent screen time and social involvement with parents and peers. Though the paper doesn't quite say that Internet and TV are the cause of the detachment, it's clear that the two are related.

The paper, called "Adolescent Screen Time and Attachment to Parents and Peers," surveyed behaviors of 3,043 New Zealand students in 2004. Among the findings were a 4 or 5 percent increase in detachment to parents for every hour spent watching TV or surfing the Web, respectively. It's not all about the parents, either—more time spent gaming was associated with low attachment to peers as well. More time spent reading offline and doing homework was associated with higher attachment to parents.