Young people are leaving compulsory education more confident dealing with others ‘virtually’ than using their interpersonal skills, a new study has revealed.

The Educated Tea Makers report, conducted by database software provider FileMaker, found that 83% of all respondents felt more confident in their basic IT skills, compared to only 75% who are more comfortable communicating face-to-face.

The gap widened even further when looking at 16-18 year olds, with 82% claiming they felt confident in their basic IT skills, compared to only 64% who felt confident in dealing with others in person.

Tony Speakman, regional manager for FileMaker in Northern Europe said: "It is encouraging to see IT confidence so high amongst school leavers but it is concerning to see that this has overtaken self-assurance in interpersonal skills. IT skill confidence will help benefit individuals in the workplace as businesses adopt more new age technology but it must not be forgotten that there is still a strong need for effective communication across a variety of mediums.

"Business success is about securing agreement to action, and social skills play a large part in this. What we must try to avoid is an over reliance on technology and the convenience of online interaction at the expense of face-to-face communication as this may lead to a ‘reclusive nation'."