Children who experience social anxiety—feeling discomfort or distress in social situations—or who are socially incompetent are particularly at risk for developing dependence on electronic media. This is true whether the preferred agent be the Internet, video games, or a smartphone. The more a child hides behind a screen, the more socially awkward he or she becomes, creating a self-perpetuating cycle. In contrast, a shy child who continually works at overcoming social anxiety is likely to overcome it. In the past, the strong desire to belong to a social group during adolescence helped override resistance to social interaction, which would lessen over time simply due to practice. Nowadays, socially anxious or awkward children and teens aren’t forced to practice face-to-face and eye-to-eye interaction because some of their social needs are met online. Thus, in socially anxious children, the ability to tolerate the physical presence of others never builds, and “walls”are erected instead to keep the child feeling safe. An adolescent with somewhat poor social skills in high school can easily become reclusive as a young adult, spending more and more hours online and less and less time interacting in real life. This pattern makes it increasingly harder to make and keep friends. Relationship problems show up at home, too; research indicates that the more time a child spends using the Internet, the less healthy the parent-child relationship becomes. Thus, social incompetence and screen-time represent another bidirectional relationship.