To which I counter with this article: http://www.wired.com/2013/12/ap_thompson-2/
Yes, parents can be too "self-involved" and "work focused" at times. I would advocate letting teens "hang out" together in, hopefully, positive venues. I also would advocate parents taking more time to plan and take family trips and stuff that builds good memories. I cannot lay the blame totally on the parents though; that is a cop out! I had lots of times to "hang out" with my peers when I was a teen, and not all of that was "healthy" - I got into some troubling arenas. But the original post goes wells beyond the "teen" group, and the comments by thenewgreen can be true of the "older crowd" as well.
Thanks for that article. I've been a proponent of that idea for a while, just didn't have the data to back it up. Your average American teen (I'm only 22 and I see a shift from my high school days) is so closely monitored and tightly caged (Curfews, stranger danger, gas prices) that without the ability to reach out to their friends digitally they would be a 'generation' (Using the term loosely) of hermits!