Mizuko Ito, researcher at the University of California and author of a study focusing on young people and their social behaviour in an online environment has found at that it can be an effective way of picking up and learning social behaviour:

“But we found that spending time online is essential for young people to pick up the social and technical skills they need to be competent citizens in the digital age,” said Mizuko Ito.

Teenagers learn important social, technical skills online: study [physorg.com]