You may want to stop and reconsider whether you think a home computer will help your child with reading and math.

A new Duke University study says North Carolina middle school students' test scores dropped after they got home computers, suggesting they spent more time playing "The Sims" than working practice math problems.

The study by Jacob Vigdor and Helen Ladd at Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy challenges the accepted wisdom that children who don't have computers at home are at a disadvantage compared with their wired classmates.

"Our sense is that kids in middle school are using them more for socializing," Ladd said. "We don't want to send the impression that there are major declines in math or reading scores. [But] We are very confident the effects are not positive."

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