Computer addicts are the minorityof computer users but there is nodoubt that more and more youngpeople are computer literate.Computer studies is a subject inmany schools and many youngpeople have personal computers.About one in three hundredcomputer owners spend almost alltheir time using computers.Ninety six per cent of them aremales of all ages. All of them spendan average of twenty hours perweek on home computers. Themajority of the adults also usecomputers at work. All thecomputer addicts are veryintelligent. They have beeninterested in science andtechnology from a very early ageand they are usually very shypeople who like being alone.A survey in a school showed thatfewer girls are interested incomputers because girls are lesslikely to have a computer. Even ifthey have one, they use then lessfrequently than boys. Possibly it isbecause we think of computers assomething to do with maths andscience, which are traditionally'male' subjects. Possibly it isbecause most of the computerteachers are men, who give thegirls less attention. Possibly parentsthink it is less important for girlsto have computer skills.Computer addicts are usually veryshy people. Using computers givesthem confidence. They lovedebugging and solving problems,develop programs and love learningprogramming languages. Theylearnt to communicate with otherusers through computer networksand the people they met in schooland work think of them as expertswho could help and advise whenthey had problems with theirmachines. A few spend their time'hacking' and one addict left amessage on a computer ofBuckingham House. Very fewcomputer addicts play computergames, but many people use acomputer exclusively for games.Some parents worry aboutcomputer games because theythink their children won't be ableto communicate with real people inthe real world. But parents do notneed to worry. According toresearch computer addicts usuallydo well after they have left school.Parents also do not need to worrythat computer addiction will maketheir children become unfriendlyand unable to communicate withpeople.It is not the computer that makesthem shy. In fact, what they knowabout computers improves theirsocial lives. They become expertsand others come to them for helpand advice.For most children computer gamesare a craze. Like any other craze,such as skate-boarding, the craze isshort-lived. It provides harmlessfun and a chance to escape.If we didn't have these computeraddicts, we wouldn't have moderntechnology. They are the inventorsof tomorrow.
