Isolation Increases with Internet Use
By Scott Sleek
The Internet connects us with people we might otherwise never meet, and may be leaving us
lonelier than ever.
1. A rabbi discovered the professional benefits of the Internet when he joined an online
discussion group with colleagues. There, he got advice on subjects for sermons and effective
ways to deal with congregants. But the rabbi also noticed that he was spending less time
talking with his wife, whose verbal moral support had once been just as beneficial as,
perhaps even more than, the advice he received from his online peers.
2.
Psychologist Robert Kraut, PhD, of Carnegie Mellon University's Human Computer
Interaction Institute, points to the case of the rabbi whom he talked to as part of his research
on computer use, as an example of the paradoxical role that the Internet has come to play in
our lives.
3.
The technology that has allowed people to keep in closer touch with distant family
members and friends, to find information quickly and to develop friendships with people from
around the world, is also replacing vital day-to-day human interactions. However, a computer
monitor can't give you a hug or laugh at your jokes. And some psychologists worry that the
Internet's widening popularity will lead to further isolation among a population that, although
gravitating toward virtual communities in cyber-space, seems to have lost a genuine sense of
belonging and connection.
4.
In fact, Kraut and his colleagues, in a study to be released this month in American
Psychologist, report that greater use of the Internet leads to shrinking social support and less
happiness, and increases depression and loneliness. The study is the first to look specifically
at the impact that Internet use has on overall emotional well-being. And the findings were
unexpected, Kraut says, given that most people use the Internet for chat lines and e-mail, not
just to isolate themselves in mounds of electronic information. 'We were surprised to find that
what is a social technology, unlike the television, has kind of antisocial consequences,' Kraut
says.
Learning from mistakes
5. The Internet has changed the lives of Americans as much as the telephone in the early
20th century or the television in the 1950s and 60s did, Kraut contends. Numerous research
and marketing firms have calculated the number of American households using the Internet
at anywhere from 60 million to 70 million. Millions more use it throughout the world for a
variety of purposes. People use it for everything from buying plane tickets to downloading
games to e-mailing family. And some spend many hours on multi-user domains, or MUDS,
where they assume fictional identities in role-playing games. But studies are showing the
social prices of online living. Psychologists have already widely publicized their findings about
people who are addicted to the Internet.
6. Kraut and his co-researchers are perhaps the first to show how the Internet affects people
who log on regularly, but don't appear to be addicted to it. They studied 169 individuals from
93 diverse households in Pittsburgh during their first two years online. They recorded each
participant's Internet use by employing custom-designed logging programs. And using selfreport measures, they assessed each participant's level of social involvement and
psychological well-being before they went online, and again a year or two later.
7. They found a direct correlation between participants' level of Internet use and their reports
of social activity and happiness. As their use of the Internet increased, the participants
reported a decrease in the amount of social support they felt and in the number of social
activities they were involved in. They also reported being more depressed and lonely.
A poor substitute
8. Psychologists have yet to pinpoint the reasons Internet use can burden psychological
well-being, but they have plenty of theories. Many users, who are caught in the allure of
connecting with a global array of people with similar interests, seem to be substituting weak
online friendships for their stronger real-life relationships, says Sara Kiesler, PhD, one of
Kraut's colleagues in the Carnegie Mellon study.
9. In their research, Kraut, Kiesler and their peers found several examples of people who
developed seemingly valuable friendships online:
- A woman exchanged mittens with a stranger she met on a knitting listserv.
- A woman met a couple in Canada, whom she later visited during her summer vacation.
- A teen-ager met a person to date online.
10.
But national survey data show only 22 percent of people who had been using the
Internet for two or more years had ever made a new friend on the Internet, the researchers
note. And those friendships tend to be of low quality.
'You don't have to deal with
unpleasantness, because if you don't like somebody's behavior, you can just log off,' says
Kiesler. 'In real life, relationships aren't always easy. Yet dealing with some of those hard
parts is good for us. It helps us keep connected with people. 'Also, the kinds of people you
meet online don't really know you,' she adds. 'If you need surgery, or you have something
wrong in your family, they're not around, they're not there for you.'
Recognizing the consequences
11.
Like many technologies, the Internet has captivated people with its novelty and
convenience, but it has also created a sense of dependency and has some troubling social
consequences, says Allen Kanner, PhD, a Californian psychologist who teaches ecopsychology and other courses at the Wright Institute and other graduate schools throughout
the San Francisco Bay Area. Kanner said he's glad somebody is looking at the Internet's
impact, noting that behaviorists produced minimal data on the social effects of the television,
the phone or the car until those technologies were heavily embedded into our lives.
12. 'The car allowed people to travel far greater distances,' he notes, 'but it also created
suburbs and highways all over the place. So the positive advantages also caused huge
negative social changes, such as traffic jams, pollution and people moving further away from
each other. We're so excited about the advantages of technology that we quickly dismiss the
disadvantages,' Kanner adds.
13. But others warn against overemphasizing the negative aspects of technology. Like any
technology, the World Wide Web can lead to good or bad behaviors, says John Grohol,
PsyD, creator of Mental Health Net (www.cmhc.com/), a massive index of mental healthrelated web sites, online mailing lists and newsgroups. And he believes it provides some vital
societal benefits, such as the large number of online self-help groups that exist today. Those
are especially important in small communities that aren't large enough to sustain a support
group, he adds. As an example, he points out that if you lived out in rural Montana or Kansas,
you'd have a hard time finding a panic disorder support group. 'Online, this group allows
those people to get connected, to share advice.'
14. Another example of the Internet's social utility is a Public Electronic Network (P.E.N.) set
up in Santa Monica, Calif., to facilitate grass roots organizing. The system, set up in 1989 in
public buildings, allowed scores of residents, including homeless citizens, to access the
network. Some users formed an action group to identify local issues that needed attention
and to develop social projects. One of the group's biggest accomplishments was developing
a service center for job-seeking homeless people. Psychologist Michele Andrisin Wittig, PhD,
of California State University, Northridge, and Joseph Schmitz, of the University of Tulsa's
Faculty of Communication, surveyed participants in the network and reported their findings in
the Journal of Social Issues.
15. 'Our respondents told us that P.E.N. helped develop links among diverse people,' they
write. 'They reported enhanced capability to interact with others who differ in socioeconomic
status and power. Thus, they formed more diverse social networks that centered on common
interests, but were not constrained by economic or geographical bounds.'
The right balance
16. Many psychologists say behavioral research should demonstrate ways to find a healthy
balance between time spent online and time spent talking with family and friends in person.
In fact, people could integrate their online and in-person lives by calling or getting together
with friends they've met online, suggests John Suler, PhD, who studies online behavior as a
psychology professor at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J.
17. Kraut says he's trying to incorporate that balance in his own community. He's proposing
that his local school and synagogue create electronic communication forums for students to
discuss homework assignments, make plans for social gatherings or even receive online
tutoring. However, Kraut has limited his teen-age son's time online.
18. But he's also seeing the ways the Internet can enhance family connections. ‘Although
every member of our family spends time online rather than doing things with each other, we
also keep up with our son who lives away from home at college. When he needs to know
how to cook something, he gets the directions electronically.'
QUESTIONS
1. In his study on computer use, psychologist Robert Kraut shows that the internet has a
__________________________________________________ (up to 5 words)
2.
According to para 3, on one hand, the Internet enables us to _________________
_______________________________________, on the other hand, it is not able to
_______________________________________________________________.
3. Which of the following was NOT supported by Kraut's study?
a) Frequent Internet users tend to be unhappy and receive less social support.
b) Depression and loneliness were greater among frequent users of the Internet.
c) Most people use the internet just for information gathering.
d) The Internet has an impact on general emotional well-being.
4. Complete the sentence. In para 5, the author mentions that people use the Internet to buy
plane
tickets,
and
to
e-mail
family,
in
order
to
support
the
idea
that
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
5. According to Kraut's research, what is the correlation between internet use and social
activity and happiness?
a. As people use the Internet more, they participate more in social activities and feel happier
b. As people use the Internet less, they participate less in social activities and feel happier
c. As people use the Internet more, they participate less in social activities and feel worse
d. As people use the Internet less, they participate less in social activities and feel worse
6. Paragraph 10: Circle one: TRUE/FALSE
Our commitment to friends made on the Internet is just as strong as the commitment we have
towards friends not made on the Internet.
Support your answer from the text.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
7. (Paragraphs 11 & 12) Why does the author compare the Internet to other technologies like
the car and the phone?
Circle the correct words in the following sentence:
In order to show that people don't pay attention to the POSITIVE / NEGATIVE aspects of
new technology, because they are so enthusiastic about the POSITIVE / NEGATIVE aspects
of it.
8. According to paragraph 13, "the World Wide Web can lead to good or bad behaviors."
List 2 positive social benefits of the Internet.
a) _________________________________________________
b) _________________________________________________
9. P.E.N. is a social service and a benefit to society.
Check [] THREE ways it helps people.
_____ keeps scores of online games
_____ supports community projects
_____ offers homeless people roots
_____ sets up rent-free housing in public buildings
_____ enables people to deal with local issues
_____ helps homeless people find jobs
10. What other feature of P.E.N. appeals to people? Circle the correct words.
People of DIFFERENT / SIMILAR backgrounds can have common interests and form
social networks which ARE / ARE NOT usually limited by economic and geographical
factors.
11. What is the contradiction in Kraut’s use of the Internet within his own family?
Although his teenage son's Internet time ___________________________ , Kraut uses the
Internet to _____________________________________________________.
12. What is the main idea of the article?
a. People should be aware of the negative aspects of internet use, despite its
advantages.
b. People should appreciate the positive aspects of the internet, and ignore its
disadvantages.
c. People should spend more time cultivating real friendships, rather than making
friends on the Internet.
d. People should spend less time online, because it will just make them feel lonelier.