Computer addicts are the minority of computer users but there is no doubt that more and more young people are computer literate. Computer studies is a subject in many schools and many young people have personal computers. About one in three hundred computer owners spend almost all their time using computers.

Ninety six per cent of them are males of all ages. All of them spend an average of twenty hours per week on home computers. The majority of the adults also use computers at work. All the computer addicts are very intelligent. They have been interested in science and technology from a very early age and they are usually very shy people who like being alone.

A survey in a school showed that fewer girls are interested in computers because girls are less likely to have a computer. Even if they have one, they use then less frequently than boys. Possibly it is because we think of computers as something to do with maths and science, which are traditionally 'male' subjects. Possibly it is because most of the computer teachers are men, who give the girls less attention. Possibly parents think it is less important for girls to have computer skills.

Computer addicts are usually very shy people. Using computers gives them confidence. They love debugging and solving problems, develop programs and love learning programming languages. They learnt to communicate with other users through computer networks and the people they met in school and work think of them as experts who could help and advise when they had problems with their machines. A few spend their time 'hacking' and one addict left a message on a computer of Buckingham House. Very few computer addicts play computer games, but many people use a computer exclusively for games.

Some parents worry about computer games because they think their children won't be able to communicate with real people in the real world. But parents do not need to worry. According to research computer addicts usually do well after they have left school. Parents also do not need to worry that computer addiction will make their children become unfriendly and unable to communicate with people.

It is not the computer that makes them shy. In fact, what they know about computers improves their social lives. They become experts and others come to them for help and advice.

For most children computer games are a craze. Like any other craze, such as skate-boarding, the craze is short-lived. It provides harmless fun and a chance to escape.

If we didn't have these computer addicts, we wouldn't have modern technology. They are the inventors of tommorow.