Christian Cárdenas, Sara Jasper, Kristen Parton, Jed Rose and Luke Swartz
Edited for Ensikom By Moshack
"The brave new world of cyber-glop will be an increasingly lonely, isolated and dehumanized
word. It will be a place where you can order anything you want online, but you don’t know
your neighbors, where your children and your parents will spend evening hours logged into
the Net, talking to distant strangers rather than each other."
-Clifford Stoll, author of "Silicon Valley Snake Oil"
Recent studies by Stanford's SIQSS and Carnegie Mellon's
HomeNet Project have shown that increased use of the Internet
leads to social isolation and depression. People who spent
more time on the Internet spent less time socializing with
peers, communicated less within the family and felt more
lonely and depressed. However, other studies emerged
contradicting these results, suggesting that the Internet actually
brings people closer together by bridging geographical
barriers. We examine these studies in depth, including the
criticism they have recieved from the media. In order to
understand what contributes to Internet isolation, we look in-depth at how social tools such as
email, online communities and Internet usage can bring people together virtually, but may also
result in isolating them physically.
To make our research more meaningful and applicable to the Stanford community, we conducted
our own survey of an accidental sampling of Stanford undergraduates, focusing on the various
ways students use the Internet and how it affects their social lives, relationships and
communication with friends and family. As Jakob Nielsen observed, Internet use is
predominantly correlated with age and level of education. Stanford undergraduates represent a
concentrated population of highly educated young people, a group with much greater exposure to
the Internet than the average person addressed by previous studies. By comparing our survey
findings to those of previous studies, we draw conclusions about the way the Internet impacts the
personal lives of people living in an Internet-integrated society, a goal which America seems to
be rapidly approaching.
Site Organization
This site begins by examining the debate over isolation and connectedness on the Internet,
followed by an in-depth look at studies of Internet isolation. Finally, we present our own study
and its results, and our overall conclusions.
This web site is our final project for our Computers, Ethics, And Social Responsibility class in
the Computer Science department at Stanford University.
The Internet has the unique ability to connect any user with any other user, according to
any quality possible — relationships, beliefs, viewpoints, goals, problems, identity, or interests.
For example, using email and chatting software, connecting with family and friends who are far
away geographically is cheaper and easier than calling or writing letters. Using a combination of
the World Wide Web, chatting software, email, and discussion groups, minority groups that may
have been ignored by traditional media have come together online to share information, support
each other, and organize events.
However, critics of the Internet believe that Internet use, while connecting more people
virtually, makes people more isolated socially because the more time they spend online, the less
time they spend interacting in real life. They believe that electronic communication is not as indepth or reliable as communication in person or on the phone. Critics also see a possibility of the
Internet breaking people apart into minority groups, as a result of less dependence on mainstream
media, a phenomenon known as "balkanization."
Critical forecasts of the future of the Internet, for example in the movie The Net, show
people whose only friends are online buddies, whose real names
are not even known. In these distopian worlds, social
relationships are not even based on reality, but on the façades of
other online users, whose anonymous interactions can be
untruthful and unreliable. These people work from home, so
there is no interaction with fellow employees, and their social lives are mingled with their work,
which both revolve around the Internet. These distopian views are countered by utopian views of
a global village, where anyone can reach out to anyone else and geographic barriers are
nonexistent, because the Internet allows users to be always connected.
The two opposing viewpoints about the Internet have been debated extensively in the past
few years, in part because several studies have recently emerged to support the viewpoint that
Internet use has a negative effect on personal lives. These studies concluded that, among other
things, the more time people spend on the Internet, the less they interact with family and friends
physically and over the phone, the smaller their social circles become, and the more they feel
depressed. The survey methods have been heavily criticized and several other studies dispute
their conclusions. As society rapidly approaches full Internet integration, it is important to
consider the consequences of being connected virtually, and whether it is worth the risk of
becoming disconnected physically.
ll of the studies agree that email is the most common usage of the Internet (except in the
UCLA study, where it ties with web surfing for most common). According to the Pew study,
87% of Internet users who access the Internet on a given day use email. People are also very
dependent on email: if asked to give up email, 77% of users in the Pew study said they would
miss it and 49% said they would miss it a lot. So how can a social technology that allows people
to communicate lead to social isolation? Kraut, primary author of the Carnegie Mellon HomeNet
study, thus titled his paper "Internet Paradox: a social technology that reduces social involvement
and psychological well being." Although researchers agree that email is the most common usage
of the ’Net, and that it is used to keep in touch with friends and family, they disagree as to the
types of interactions that happen over email, and whether email communication is as meaningful
as talking on the phone.
Many people use email to stay in touch with relatives and friends who live far away
geographically. For example, many parents use it to communicate with children who go away to
college. Here is where the debate arises: is it better to communicate with long distance friends by
email, or does that take away from more personal types of communication, such as phoning
them? The Pew study found that email made users feel closer to friends and family, an effect
found more with women users than men. For example, 55% of Internet users say their email
exchanges have improved their connections to family members, and 66% say the same thing for
significant friends. About 60% of users say that because of email they communicate more with
significant friends and family members. So it would seem that email improves communication
with long distance family members and friends
However, the Carnegie Mellon study concludes that "strong ties maintained at a distance
through electronic communication are likely to be
different in kind and perhaps diminished in strength
compared with strong ties supported by physical
proximity." Kraut focuses on the type of
communication, and believes that faraway friends "are
not embedded in the same day-to-day environment,
they will be less likely to understand the context for
conversation, making conversation more difficult."
But when physical proximity is impossible, isn’t
electronic communication better than none at all? It is
hard to understand Kraut’s conclusions when faced with the fact that people seem to be emailing
more with long-distance family and friends; to understand them better, we have to look at the
types of communication going on.
Kraut’s conclusions do seem to have some validity in regard to the types of messages
people write. The Pew study found that 62% of those who email relatives say that because of
email they can stay in touch without having to spend as much time talking. Although the Pew
study presented it as a "new line of communication," critics of the Internet would have viewed
this as a decrease in the strength of the relationship, because the communication is not as indepth. Also, email (as opposed to phone calls or chatting) is not interactive; it is a one-sided
letter, albeit less formal and more convenient. The Pew study commented that, "many siblings
send electronic messages to each other more often than they place phone calls…it is possible that
email represents additional communication that might not otherwise occur." But it is also
possible that the convenience of email is making a more impersonal form of communication
preferable to phone calls. For example, 23% of children who email their parents believe that
email is too impersonal to use with their parents (as compared to 13% of parents). Users from
both the Carnegie Mellon and Pew studies agreed that they preferred email to other forms of
communication because of its convenience.
Email is the most commonly used Internet tool, so it is important to monitor its usage.
Based on the studies, it seems that email is good at increasing communication for long distance
relationships, especially since it is cheaper than telephoning. But a disadvantage may be that the
convenience of email makes it easy to substitute a more impersonal form of communication for
other forms of communication, such as phone calls. So quantitatively, email may help
communication to increase, but qualitatively it may lead to a decrease.
The ability to meet online, create an information network and
establish a support group, has been used by diverse groups of people,
for example, sufferers of rare diseases, scientists in specific fields, and
ethnic minority groups. (Of course, it’s not all good news: hate groups,
militia groups and assorted other negative "minority groups" can also
gather online.) A person with a panic disorder syndrome living in a
rural area can logon to a panic disorder web site, email and chat with
other people with the same disorder, and read up on the medical facts,
even though there may be no one suffering from the same disorder
within a hundred miles of the person. Similarly, a homosexual
teenager in a rural, conservative area can logon to learn more about his
or her sexuality, a topic that would otherwise be taboo or not even
mentionable in his/her geographic community. The Internet provides
invaluable support for anyone with a computer who seeks help, something that has never before
been possible with books, mail or telephone.
The dream of a global village, however, is tempered by the possibility of fragmentation
and isolation. The newfound online support groups come at the expense of more personal,
physical interactions, as more time spent online also means less time offline interacting with
family and friends and attending fewer events outside the home, according to the SIQSS study.
All of the studies that asked about television watching found that people had increased
their Internet usage at the expense of television time. This means that they had abandoned
traditional media to read their own news, get their own entertainment, and search for information
that is of interest to them. If users become too involved with their special interest groups only,
their geographic identity will have no meaning to them, and they will also be less exposed to
mainstream views. According to Kraut, social disengagement such as this "is associated with
more corrupt, less efficient government and more crime. When citizens are involved in civic life,
their schools run better, their politicians are more responsive, and their streets are safer. At the
individual level, social disengagement is associated with poor quality of life and diminished
physical and psychological health." Serious fragmentation and avoidance of mainstream culture
currently mostly occurs with Internet addicts. But as society becomes more Internet-integrated,
this model is a possible outcome of the Internet taking over other media combined with the need
to filter such a huge mass of information by the user, which will of course be done according to
his or her preferences.
Alstyne and Brynjolfsson at MIT call this fragmentation of Internet society
"cyberbalkans." People online are no longer limited to their geographic neighborhoods so now
their "neighbors can be chosen based on criteria other than geography… historical biases stand in
for geographic barriers and limit integration just as effectively." Once members of a common
group unite, the network they form can "further polarize their views or even ignite calls to
action." At the same time, spending more time in an online community means spending less time
in the real community, so as a user is more drawn to a group, he or she is less involved in the
mainstream culture or geographic community. Although users are united on a virtual level in a
minority group, they are isolated on a physical level from the mainstream culture. "This
voluntary balkanization and the loss of shared experiences and values may be harmful to the
structure of democratic societies as well as decentralized organizations" (MIT). Cyber-distopian
Clifford Stoll, author of "Silicon Snake Oil," believes in the cyberbalkans future. He said that
"the brave new world of cyber-glop will be an increasingly lonely, isolated and dehumanized
word. It will be a place where you can order anything you want online, but you don’t know your
neighbors, where your children and your parents will spend evening hours logged into the Net,
talking to distant strangers rather than each other." Fortunately, the MIT researchers do not say
that cyberbalkans is a necessary future of the Internet, only one of several possible scenarios.
Kraut's "Internet Paradox" is exemplified in the Internet addict: he or she uses the social
tools of the Internet (email, chatting, MUDding, online gaming) so much that he or she loses
contact with the real world, thus becoming very anti-social. However, unlike average net users,
Internet addicts often claim that they feel more connected to their online virtual friends than
friends do in reality. According to Jakob Nielson, an Internet researcher, "the question is whether
the new lifestyle is enjoyable and whether it nourishes humans or causes them damage"
(useit/alertbox). When the Internet interferes with school or work, it is clearly causing damage.
But what if school or work is online, and the user keeps up with the work by remaining "plugged
in" all the time? Is that a damaging lifestyle because the user never leaves his or her house, or is
it a nourishing lifestyle because he or she has an online community to feel close to (perhaps even
closer than the real community nearby)? Most people might agree with the former, but the users
themselves would probably agree with the latter. There is no easy way to judge whether
relationships online are more or less meaningful than relationships the people might have had
offline. Perhaps the users were loners, extremely shy people, or outcasts, and could not find any
friends in their locality. In this case, online communities would be more nourishing than physical
communities. But when online usage leads to the breakdown of strong physical relationships in
order to maintain weaker online relationships, the addiction
is damaging.
Though many psychology studies have been
published on computer and Internet addiction, the studies
highlighted in this project are unique in that they focus on
the Internet usage patterns of light to heavy Internet users,
not just Internet addicts. Although time spent online is not
the only measure of Internet addiction, it is one symptom. One Internet addiction survey noted
that "Dependents classified used the Internet an average of thirty-eight hours per week for nonacademic or non-employment related purposes." In contrast, only 14% of the users in the SIQSS
study used the internet more than 10 hours a week, and only 10% of the HomeNet study users
logged on for more than 7.5 hours a week, making the percentage of Internet addicts in the
sample probably quite small. These studies are the first to try to examine the effect of the Internet
on the personal lives of so-called "ordinary citizens" (HomeNet project) — not technogeeks or
addicts.
Internet addiction is just a higher level of the Internet isolation reported by many of these
studies. By studying the effects of the Internet on users now, researchers can trace trends and try
to predict how likely it is that an Internet-integrated society will lead to more Internet addiction.
Distopian views of the Internet in the future depict a society of Internet addicts: totally isolated
people in front of computer screens, dependent on the net and unwilling to leave their seats (for
example,  , The Net, and The Matrix). One of the purposes of these studies is to question the
present development of the Internet. Nie, head of the SIQSS study, said "What might have
happened if we had asked these questions about the automobile? Or television? We might have
done some things very differently."
Since the explosion of the Internet in the mid-nineties, universities and other research
groups have conducted a number of studies to determine the Internet’s effects on society. Some,
such as the Stanford SIQSS and CMU Homenet studies found that the heavy Internet use
correlates to social isolation and depression. Other studies, however, contradict these results,
showing no change or positive change in social habits thanks to the Internet. Here, we
summarize and analyze each of the major studies as well as some minor studies, so that the
reader can think critically about them and in order to introduce the background for our own
study.
[ Executive Summary | Methodology | Results | Conclusions | Critiques ]
Executive Summary
A study by the Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society (SIQSS) in 2000
found that increased Internet use correlated with isolating behaviors such as spending less time
with friends and family. The more time people spent on the Internet, the less time they spent
interacting with humans in the "real world." However, many have raised questions about both the
study's methodology and its conclusions.
Methodology

Internet surveys
Each participant was given a WebTV set-top box by InterSurvey; using these boxes, they
answered a series of multiple-choice questions.

Random sample of 4113 individuals in 2689 households
Because the study was "itself conducted over the Internet," only those respondents who
had Internet access prior to receiving InterSurvey WebTV were considered.
Results

Email is the most popular Internet activity
90% of Internet users reported using email; this is more than any other activity (even
general ones like "Surfing" or "General Information").

Reduced time with friends and family
Especially by those reporting high Internet use (more than 10 hours a week), more hours
on the 'Net correlated with reporting less time talking to friends and family over the
phone, spending time with friends and family, and attending events outside of home.

More time working at home without cutting back at work
About 15% of Internet users who are online 1 or more hours a week reported working
more at home, while spending the same amount of time at the office. Some users reported
working more at both home and the office, with the number growing along with the
amount of Internet use.

Less traditional media
The more that people's reported Internet use increased, the more likely they reported
spending less time watching TV or reading newspapers.
Conclusions

Internet isolates people
Norman Nie, one of the principal investigators, contends
that "the Internet could be the ultimate isolating
technology," reducing participation in communities. The
SIQSS study shows that "the more hours people use the
Internet, the less time they spend with real human
beings… [such use is] at the expense of time people spend
on the phone gabbing with family and friends or having a
conversation with people around them." Citing the heavy
use of email, he notes that it "is a way to stay in touch, but
you can't share a coffee or beer with somebody on e-mail
or give them a hug."

Internet allows work to intrude into home
Nie said that while "we may be seeing the beginning of telecommuting…work appears to
be intruding into every other aspect of our lives, and that's one of the clearest trends in
these data."

Internet causes people to remain "home alone and anonymous"
Nie worries that the anonymity of the Internet may cause psychological, emotional, and
even ethical problems. "When we lived in small communities, the old story was that you
said to yourself, 'I'll see this guy and his wife at church on Sunday so I better be honest
with him today.' Then we moved to the big anonymous cities and it became 'Hell, I'll
hardly ever see this guy.' Now, it's becoming 'Hell, I won't ever even know this guy's
name.' "
Critiques

Unreliability of surveys
Many, such as Jakob Nielson, criticize the study for its over-reliance on self-reported
measures. "You cannot simply ask people to self-report how their behavior has changed,"
he argues. "It is well-known that it is very difficult to estimate time consumption."
Furthermore, not only did the study ask people to report their own hourly usage patterns,
but also it asked them explicitly whether using the Internet had caused them to do various
other activities more ore less frequently, rather than merely asking them how many hours
they spent on such activities.

Correlation does not prove causation
A common confusion in scientific studies is that between correlation and causation. In
particular, this study showed that high Internet use and working at home are correlated,
but it does not show that such high Internet use causes one to work at home. It might be
the case that working at home causes one to use the Internet more (which seems logical),
or that the two variables are caused by something else (such as income or job type).
Similarly, because of the self-reporting bias described above, one cannot conclude that
"more Internet use causes one to spend less time with one's family and friends"; one can
only conclude that "reporting that one uses the Internet more correlates with reporting
that one spends less time with one's family and friends."

Email is connective
One of the results of the study-that email is the most popular use for the Internetcontradicts, to some degree, the idea that the Internet is isolating. Email, when compared
to most other Internet uses, is fundamentally communicative. While it lacks the subtlety
of a face-to-face conversation, you "can't share a coffee or beer or a hug by telephone
either," or by "snail mail," for that matter (Langa). Byte.com's Fred Langa contends that
the SIQSS researchers have an "anti-Web/anti-tech bias" which causes them to disparage
new technology (such as email) yet laud old technology (such as the telephone) (Ibid.).
While he admits that "there are times when there's no substitute" for hearing someone's
voice or seeing someone in person, he contends that a number of emails are
"communication that otherwise would not have happened" and thus increase one's
connectedness to other people. Other critics draw an analogy between SIQSS's
conclusions and those of early 20th century social scientists who claimed that the
telephone would end peoples' social lives (Chattanooga Publishing Company).

Other critics
Various other people say that the study should have had "a more random selection of
survey respondents studied over a longer period of time" (Weird Science, qtd. in
Newsweek). Langa asks why SIQSS "never asked the survey participants if they
themselves felt more or less connected" by the Internet. The New York Times contends,
"The problem isn't the Internet. The suburbs and the long automobile commutes to our
workplaces have…left us too far apart" (Ibid.). Indeed, if one could show that high
Internet use correlates to living in a socially isolating suburb, one could ascribe many of
the negative effects to habitat, not technology.
[ Executive Summary | Methodology | Results | Conclusions | Critiques ]
Executive Summary
A longitudinal study by Carnegie-Mellon University's HomeNet Project found that
increased Internet use correlated (and likely caused) a decrease in social involvement. While we
lack some of the data necessary to validate this claim, the study makes perhaps the strongest case
for a link between Internet use and isolation.
Methodology

Longitudinal survey
Families were surveyed in the home both before getting Internet access and also one year
afterwards. Also, their Internet usage (both amount and type of use) was monitored
electronically.

169 people in 73 families in Pittsburgh
Participants were recruited from adults who were on the board of directors at community
development organizations, and teenagers who worked on their school newspapers. Each
didn't have Internet access before the study. Carnegie Mellon University provided each
with a computer, software, phone line, Internet service, and basic support; in almost all
cases, this was "their first experience with a powerful home computer."
Results

Communication is more important than information or entertainment
Email was extremely popular, being used both more frequently and more consistently
than the World Wide Web. This mirrors the SQISS's finding that email is the most
popular use for the Internet.

More time on the Internet corresponds to—and perhaps causes—declines in social
involvement
Greater use of the Internet correlated with less communication within the family, smaller
local social networks, greater loneliness, and greater depression. This correlation is
statistically significant and remains even if one corrects for prior conditions (e.g. how
depressed people were before receiving Internet access).
Conclusions

Internet isolation is paradoxical
The Carnegie Mellon researchers were initially quite surprised at finding social isolation,
despite a great deal of anecdotal evidence about people becoming more connected and
enjoying the Internet. Robert Kraut, the lead psychologist on the study, said that they
"were surprised to find that what is a social technology, unlike television, has kind of
antisocial consequences" (qtd. in Sleek). Their paper was thus titled "Internet Paradox,"
highlighting the Internet's paradoxical role in both facilitating social interaction as well as
making one feel more isolated.

Link between high use and social isolation is likely causal
While the researchers caution that there might be outside variables, such as the difficulty
of adolescence, which might possibly lead to both high Internet use as well as social
withdrawal, they point to the longitudinal nature of the study to suggest causal
relationships. "Measuring at multiple times…allow[s] us to make a causal claim from
correlational data," they write in a follow-up paper. "Social and psychological well-being
measured before they gained home access to the Internet did not predict how much they
subsequently used it. In contrast, their hours of Internet use did predict subsequent
declines in their psychological and social well-being." That is, they can just about rule
out the possibility that lower social involvement causes higher Internet use, thus
suggesting the converse.

The Internet may replace strong social ties with weak ones
It is unlikely that the Internet, like television, completely displaces social activities. This
is because most Internet use was social, such as email—so it is merely replacing one kind
of social interaction with another. The investigators suggest that perhaps social
interactions over the Internet encourage weaker ties than with other technologies (such as
telephones) or face-to-face interactions. They point to several anecdotes about people
who made friends online, yet who do not feel particularly close to them. Additionally,
they note, many relationships online are limited by physical distance, making it all but
impossible to offer tangible support to one's friends.
Critiques

In general, study's methodology is good
Before picking apart the study, it should be noted that its methodology is far greater than
any of the other survey-only studies. By designing a longitudinal study, the researchers
were able to accurately assess changes in behavior over time due to the Internet—
something that a simple survey cannot do.

Correlation still does not show causation
Despite the longitudinal nature of the study, because there was no control group that did
not receive Internet access, one cannot irrefutably show that Internet use causes lower
social involvement. Indeed, if one examines the data, one finds that the participants
communicated with family members and increased the size of their social networks. This
suggests that, while high Internet use may indeed have a causal relationship with
isolation, Internet use itself actually has the reverse effect. Likewise, as the researchers
admit, there could be outside variables that cause both high Internet use as well as
decreased social involvement (such as a higher stress period of one's job). Without a
control group, one cannot tell for certain.

The results are small and not generalizeable
The researchers admit that, while their results were paradoxical, the "effects were not
large." Indeed, others question whether the small effects would generalize over the
population at large, seeing as the 169 people were selected from certain age groups in a
small area around Philadelphia. The investigators believe that their results "will
generalize to groups similar to those studied," however, that is, young and middle-aged
adults.

Missing data on amount of Internet use
The Carnegie Mellon study report merely shows correlations between increased Internet
use and certain other variables, but it does not elaborate as to what levels or types of use
correspond to social isolation. For example, it may be the case that under 10 hours of use
a week, the Internet is a positive social force, but with increasing amounts of Internet use
over 10 hours, it becomes increasingly negative. Similarly, the investigators admit that
certain measures are only significant if one considers time using the World Wide Web, as
opposed to email, but they do not provide a breakdown of time on the Internet. In order to
test their "displacement of strong ties" theory and—most importantly—in order to draw
conclusions about Internet policy, it is vital that one understand how the Internet was
used by the participants, and how this affects the various variables.
[ UCLA | Times Mirror | Pew ]
While the Stanford SIQSS and Carnegie Mellon HomeNet studies each showed that increasing
Internet use correlates to decrease in social interaction, several other studies seem to contradict
these findings. Three such studies—UCLA, Times Mirror, and Pew—all have similar
methodologies, relying on surveys of randomly sampled Americans.
UCLA Study



Conducted by UCLA Center for Communication Policy.
Longitudinal study of a random sample of 2,096 households in
the United States; however, only one survey has been
conducted so far. Focused on both Internet users and non-users,
to determine differences between them.
 Again found that email is popular (about equal with "web
browsing and surfing," with 81% each of Internet users) and
that an overwhelming majority (76%) of users check their email
at least once a day (16, 31). Likewise, concluded that Internet
users watch 28% less television (24).
 Contradicting SIQSS, it found that Internet users are more
likely to employ traditional media, and that they spend just as much time on the telephone
as non-users (24). (Possible explanations are that Internet users are correlated with higher
socioeconomic status, and thus greater access to traditional media; also, note that while
the Stanford study asked whether phone use has decreased due to Internet access, the
UCLA study asked how many hours one spent on the phone.)
Only 7% of parents reported that their children spend less time with friends after gaining
Internet access, and 91% of families reported spending more time or just as much time
together after gaining internet access (34, 36). Three fourths of users report never feeling
ignored by family members because of Internet use (35). However, Internet users
reported slightly fewer hours socializing with household members (41).
Internet-using respondents reported a mild increase in the number of people with whom
they stay in contact (40). Likewise, users reported slightly lower levels of life
dissatisfaction, interaction anxiety, powerlessness, and loneliness (43).
Times Mirror Study



Survey of 4005 households in the United States in 1995, conducted by the Times Mirror
Center for the People and the Press.
Found that email is the most popular way to use the Internet.
Contradicting SIQSS, found that 53% of online users had worked at home at least one
day of the week before the survey. (It should be noted, however, that SIQSS focused on

total amount of time at the office, which could remain constant even if one works a day at
home.)
Internet users were just as likely as demographically similar people to visit family and
friends, as well to be part of a club or organization (cited in Baase 296).
Pew Study




The Pew Internet & American Life Project commissioned Princeton Survey Research
Associates to
survey a random
sample of 3,533
adults in the
United States.
Again, email was
the most popular
Internet activity,
just below the
vague "going
online" (which is
presumably
necessary in order
to check one's
email). Email was
also the most
prevalent activity,
with 93% of those
with Internet
access having sent
email.
Showed that email in particular is the "isolation antidote" in that it makes people feel
more connected.
However, the study also showed that, especially for women, a primary motivation of
using email is that it takes less time than talking. Likewise, it seems unclear whether
email is sent in lieu of phoning someone or if email consists of additional
communication, such as "little funny things…that wouldn't be worth a long-distance
call," as one subject put it.
[ Nova Southeastern University |
Forced Isolation ]
While SIQSS, HomeNet, and their
detractors have garnered the bulk of
media attention surrounding Internet
isolation, several other studies have
been conducted, which offer further
insights into the phenomenon. One
study, conducted by Nova Southeastern
University, partially replicates the
results of the HomeNet surveys. Two
other studies involve individuals
intentionally forcing themselves to rely
on the Internet for all human contact.
Nova Southeastern University Study

Methodology
89 seniors at a Florida high school were given a survey with 181 questions, which
ascertained the amount of Internet use, level of intimacy with family and friends, and
depression.

Results
Low Internet users had better relationships with mothers and friends than high Internet
users. However, no significant differences were found for depression or relationship with
fathers

Discussion
While the study seems to show a correlation between high Internet use and certain
isolating variables (such as worse relationships with certain people), one can question
several aspects of the study. First, the researchers disregarded moderate Internet users
(from 1 to 2 hours a day). Second, as the authors acknowledge, "These results do not
imply directionality"; that is, just as the other surveys could not show that heavy Internet
use causes social isolation, neither can this study show a causal relationship between
using the Internet more and becoming more distant from one's mother and friends.
Forced Isolation Studies

Korean Study
A South Korean software company sponsored Kim Tae Ho in a 18-month experiment to
see if he could survive in a cabin with only the Internet. He was allowed to leave the
cabin only for walks to preserve his health; all communication, purchasing, and work had
to be done on the 'Net. He succeeded in surviving, even meeting and eventually cybermarrying a woman, yet he says, "I feel like a prisoner" (Macintyre). His wife, who joined
him in the cabin, notes that while she can communicate with her family over the Internet,
"looking at their faces on the monitor can't replace human contact."

Fortune Magazine
David Whitford of Fortune magazine spent five days in a Martha's Vinyard cabin, cut off
from the world save an Internet connection. In a proof of concept that he likened to Bank
of America's 1965 experiment in which a 24-year-old secretary had to use only a credit
card for all purchases in a month, he survived, albiet without food for some periods. At
one point, he downloaded an empathized with the woman in "The Machine Stops" by
E.M. Forester, although he felt like he was "waiting for the Machine to warm up." He
most missed contact with other people, despite being in contact with his family and
others over email and chat programs.
[ Hypotheses | Methodology | Why Study Stanford Students? | Survey Notes ]
We aimed in this project to discover the effects of the Internet on the social lives of Stanford
undergraduates, defining students' social lives as the means by which they interact with other
people, whether in person, over the phone, by email, or via Internet chat applications. One of our
primary goals, therefore, was to compare the amount of time that students spent socializing to the
amount of time they spent on the Internet, in the hopes of revealing whether or not the Internet
has an impact on the quality of their social lives.
Hypotheses
We predicted that more hours of Internet use would correlate with:





Less time visiting friends
Less time on the phone
Less average hours of sleep
More isolation
More procrastination
We also predicted that the following groups of students would spend a greater amount of time on
the Internet, and would therefore exhibit the above behaviors:



Males
Students who describe themselves as more technically inclined
Younger students
Finally, we hypothesized that students would be more likely to characterize other people as being
isolated by the Internet, but would be less likely to characterize themselves as being subject to
the Internet's possible negative social effects.
Methodology
Our results are based on a survey of an accidental sample of 236 Stanford University
undergraduates. With the aim of revealing the relationship between student's interpersonal
interactions and Internet use, we designed a short survey in which to gauge the amount of time
students spent socializing and using the Internet. Our survey consisted of a combination of
multiple-choice and free-response questions, with 23 questions total, in which we asked students
to estimate the amount of time they normally spent on the Internet and in social pursuits. In
addition, questions asked students to evaluate the ways in which the Internet has positively and
negatively influenced the ways in which they communicate and interact with others. Please see
"Survey Notes" at the bottom for more details.
Why Study Stanford Students?
The population which our survey targets represents a highly specialized group of Internet users.
Stanford undergraduates are young, most of them between the ages of 18-22. They have access
to the Internet in their rooms, and connect via high-speed connections. Their classes contain
online information, notes, and even lectures. They are living away from friends and family, with
whom they desire to keep in contact. Stanford students also take advantage of the fact that their
friends and neighbors enjoy similar situations, and therefore are likely to communicate with
peers via email and chat software, such as AOL Instant Messenger and ICQ. The current
generation of Stanford undergraduates also represents one of the first groups of people to have
"grown up" using the Internet. Although there exist undergraduates whose first significant
exposure to the Internet has been at Stanford, many of these students have a general awareness of
and proficiency with the Internet that the older subjects of previous studies never had. In
addition, Stanford's geographical, cultural, and ideological location in the center of the Silicon
Valley makes the Internet an integral part of Stanford students' daily lives.
The past decade has witnessed the rise of the Internet from a small cluster of academic and
government institutions to a worldwide network that transcends international boundaries. For
many people, the Internet has enabled new forms of communication, namely email, to become as
vital in certain spheres as the telephone. As new technologies continue to develop, the Internet
promises to continue to assume a more and more ubiquitous role in the world economy, in the
workplace, and in people's private lives.
The ubiquity of the Internet on the Stanford campus, in which the Internet figures as a prominent
and frequent means of communication, serves as a miniature model of the world of the future.
While previous studies have examined the social implications of the Internet, their target
populations have often been older and inexperienced Internet users. The people of the near future
are likely to live and communicate in an environment in which the Internet is a regular
institution, a focus of their means of work and socialization. By examining the effects of Internet
use on the social lives of Stanford students, a population with uniquely high exposure to the
Internet, we therefore hope to throw light on the ways in which the growing ubiquity of the
Internet might effect possible changes in people's social patterns in the near future.
Survey Notes
We distributed surveys to a variety of Stanford houses, such as Lantana and Castaño, Roble,
Lagunita, Yost, Narnia, Tri-Delt, Kappa Alpha, and to a crowd at a Stanford basketball game. In
total, we distributed about 800 surveys, all of which were paper copies, as opposed to being
online. Our survey relies on accurate self-reporting, which is not necessarily completely reliable.
We received 236 responses.
Athough we did collect slightly more than 236 completed student surveys, we had to discard
some of the data. Some people misinterpreted the questions and did not answer them logically.
For instance, one person reported spending 100 hours per week visiting friends. This figure was
completely absurd compared to every one else's response. Such a disproportionately large
number impacted all of the other calculations and averages in the wrong direction, so we had to
discount that particular survey. Other similar results required us to discount a handful of
surveys.
Another issue we encountered upon reviewing the surveys was that many people did not answer
every question, omitting their gender or the number of hours they use the Internet each day.
Thus, when computing all the totals in the Excel Spreadsheets, it was necessary to go through
each person and check whether or not he or she answered that question. We had to take this into
consideration when computing the averages at the end. Another issue was that some people did
not respond with concrete answers on quantifiable questions. For example, on a question that
asked how many hours per week someone visited friends, some responses were "lots" or
"innumerable." Thus, we had to omit these people when doing any calculation involving that
question. Thus, when looking at the breakdown of some figures that indicate how many people
the calculation was based upon, it might not always add up to 236 people. For instance, any
figure that involves the amount of time visiting friends will not be close to having a total of 236
people because there were many invalid responses for this question in particular.
There were also a number of written responses on the survey that were unable to be quantified.
We do not have any data tables for these types of responses. However, we did review them and
have made light of them in our discussion of the survey.
Please circle your responses:
1. Are you : Male
Female
2. Class:
Senior +)
Sophomore
Freshman
3. Would you consider yourself to be:
Both
Junior
Fuzzy
Senior (or
Techie
4. About how many hours per day do you use the Internet? ___________
How many of those hours are spent communicating (emailing, AIMing, ICQing, etc)?
_____________
5. What do you use the Internet for? (circle all that apply)
Research
Chat
News
Web surfing
Email
Porn
Phone Calls
Games
Sports
Music
Lectures
Notes
Other (please specify) ________________
Shopping
Movies/TV
6. Are any of your classes available online?
Yes
No
If so, do you watch class lectures online?
Yes
No
If you do watch lectures online instead of going to class, why?
7. About how many hours per week do you:
Talk on the phone _______
Chat/Instant msg. _______
Visit friends _______
8. On an average weeknight, how many hours of sleep do you get? ____________
9. In the following table, check the boxes that apply to the ways in which you prefer to
communicate with the following people:
Visit
Email
Phone
Instant message/ ICQ/ etc.
Close Stanford friends
Dorm-mates
Stanford acquaintances
Potential love interests
Significant others
Out-of-Stanford friends
Family members
Professors
10. I have friends I feel more comfortable emailing or IM-ing than calling or visiting.
True
False
Why or why not?
11. If you had to choose, would you say that the Internet makes you feel more: Isolated
Connected to people
12. I use the Internet to procrastinate.
False
True
13. Using the Internet has taken time away from my studies/grades.
False
True
14. Do you play games on the Internet?
No
Yes
If so, do most of your friends play games on the Internet?
No
Yes
15. I spend most of my free time in my room:
No
Yes
16. What do you feel are the most positive ways the Internet has affected the way you
communicate?
17. What do you feel are the most negative ways the Internet has affected the way you
communicate?
18. What is the least frequently you can comfortably go without checking your email?
________________
19. How has the Internet affected your relationships with your friends?
20. How has the Internet affected your relationships with your family?
21. Do you know anyone who you would characterize as an Internet addict?
Yes
No
If yes, why would you characterize them as such?
22. Has the Internet ever made you feel depressed or isolated?
Yes
No
23. In your opinion, does the Internet have an isolating effect on people in general:
Yes
No
Why or why not?
Definitions:
"Fuzzy" = a student focused in the humanities area
"Techie" = a student focused in the sciences and engineering areas
"Both" = a student who views him-/herself as a mixture of a techie and a fuzzy
Accidental Sampling:
Our accidental sampling yielded 236 Stanford undergraduate students that were 55% male, 45%
female. There were about 20% freshmen, 26% sophomores, 25% juniors, and 29% seniors (or
fifth years). Surprisingly, 43% of students surveyed identified themselves as techie and fuzzy
(both), while 34% said they were techie, and only 22% said they were fuzzy.
Average daily internet usage: 3.46 hours/day = 24.22 hours/week
Average daily internet usage per class, discipline, and gender. We found that seniors used the
Internet almost an hour a day more than the other classes. Techies used the Internet most,
followed by "both," followed by fuzzies. Males reported using the Internet more than females
(but this may also represent the fact that there are more techie males than females currently at
Stanford).
Freshman
3.22 hr/day
Sophomore
3.19 hr/day
Junior
3.16 hr/day
Senior
4.12 hr/day
Fuzzies
3.01 hr/day
Techies
3.92 hr/day
Both
3.33 hr/day
Males
3.65 hr/day
Females
3.21 hr/day
Percentage over 10 hr/week on the internet: 87.5%
Despite the fact that techies had higher Internet usage, they used chat software less. Also, they
visited friends and talked on the phone the least. Fuzzies spent the most time on the phone and
visiting friends, and slightly less time chatting than fuzzy/techies.
Fuzzies (hr/week) Techies (hr/week)
Both (hr/week)
Weekly phone time
4.72
2.94
3.09
Weekly Chat/AOL IM/ICQ time
3.05
2.69
3.20
Weekly time visiting friends
11.29
8.93
10.43
Weekly Chat/AOL IM/ICQ time
We found that freshmen used chat software the most, and seniors used it the least.
Freshman
4.89 hr/day
Sophomore
2.64 hr/day
Junior
3.38 hr/day
Senior
1.66 hr/day
" I use the internet to procrastinate."
Overall, a large majority of the students surveyed agreed with this statement. Freshmen and
seniors had slightly lower percentages.
% Yes
Freshman
84.78
Sophomore
91.80
Junior
96.61
Senior
85.29
Total
89.74
People who play games on the internet.
By far, the students who played the most games online were freshmen. Seniors played the fewest
games onilne. Techies also had a high percentage compared to fuzzies/both.
% Yes
Freshman
41.30
Sophomore
27.42
Junior
31.03
Senior
14.49
Fuzzy
22.64
Techie
37.04
Both
21.78
Total
27.23
"I spend most of my free time in my room."
More than half of techies agreed with this statement, while slightly more than 1 in 3 fuzzy/both
students agreed with this.
% Yes
Fuzzy
35.85
Techie
51.85
Both
37.62
Total
42.13
People who have felt depressed or isolated by the internet.
An astounding 1 in 4 student surveyed agreed that the Internet has made them feel depressed or
isolated. The numbers did not vary significantly across techie/fuzzy/both.
%
Depressed/Isolated
Fuzzy
24.53
Techie
26.25
Both
26.47
Total
25.96
People who think the internet has an isolating effect on people in general: 38.84%
Although only 25% of students actually reported feeling isolated, almost 40% of people thought
that the Internet made other people feel isolated.
People who say:
% True
Internet HAS made me feel depressed
Internet does NOT have an isolating effect in
general
8.40
Internet has NEVER made me feel depressed
Internet DOES have an isolating effect in general
17.42
People who use the internet more than they sleep: 11.21%
"I have friends who I feel more comfortable emailing or IM-ing rather than calling or visiting."
Overall, 55% of students agreed with this statement. Though there were no significant
differences across field ofstudy, there was a surprisingly large gender gap, where 50% of males
agreed with this statement, and 64% of females.
% Yes
Fuzzy
56.6
Techie
53.09
Both
57.84
Male
50.39
Female
64.15
Total
55.93
The amount of time people visit friends correlated with their average daily internet usage.
Note: avg = 3.46 hours
Avg time visiting friends (hr/week)
lowest 25% Internet usage
10.16
next lowest 25% Internet usage
10.5
next highest 25% Internet usage
9.59
highest 25% Internet usage
8.57
The amount of sleep people get correlated with their average daily internet usage.
Note: avg = 3.46 hours
Sleep | internet usage
(hr)
Sum of hours
Number of people
Avg sleep (hr/night)
sleep | 0<=x<0.5*avg
345.5
49
7.05
sleep | 0.5*avg<=x<avg
631.5
95
6.65
sleep | avg<=x<1.5*avg
378.5
56
6.76
174.842
28
6.24
sleep | x>=1.5*avg
The percentage of ICQ/IM/Email time out of total internet usage time correlated with their
average daily internet usage.
Note: avg = 3.46 hours
% | total internet usage (hr)
Avg % of (IM/ICQ/Email) / Total internet time
% | 0<= x < .5*avg
50.83
% | .5*avg<= x < avg
57.57
% | avg <= x <1.5*avg
48.50
% | x > 1.5*avg
43.26
The amount of time people spend on the phone correlated with their average daily internet usage.
Note: avg = 3.46 hours
Avg phone hours/week
Phone hours | 0<= x < .5*avg
3.47
Phone hours | .5*avg<= x < avg
3.43
Phone hours | avg <= x <1.5*avg
3.24
Phone hours | x > 1.5*avg
3.63
The percentage of people who play internet games correlated with their average daily internet
usage.
Note: avg = 3.46 hours
Yes
No
% Yes
Play Games | 0<=x<0.5*avg
7
43
16.28
Play Games | 0.5*avg<=x<avg
26
69
37.68
Play Games | avg<=x<1.5*avg
18
40
45.00
Play Games | x>=1.5*avg
11
17
64.71
These are some of the more interesting responses we go to the question:
Do you agree with the following statement: "I have friends I feel more comfortable emailing or
IM-ing than calling or visiting." Why or why not?
Agree
"Emailing is less of a hassle for some people I prefer not to see."
"You can plan what you want to say and its less intimidating because they are not talking back or
they are not in your presence."
"People I haven't talked to or seen in a long time - no awkward silences!"
"Lack of face to face contact relieves tension."
"Less commitment - can also multi-task timing in my control."
"It's easier to IM or email and you can always say you have a class and have to go if you don't
have anything more to say."
"On the phone you get sucked into wasting time, while emails are short."
"Some conversation topics are better left unspoken - nobody overhears."
"IM-ing is a more informal setting. Easier to "just say hi" by IM than by phone. You most often
call people for a specific reason."
"Usually not very close friends, for whom email provides a neutral space. It's funny because one
would probably get over the need for a 'neutral space' after having more contact with the person."
"The time required to call or visit is more than I would want to spend with that person."
"Because I can convey information without uncomfortable small talk."
"Don't need to have a lot to say but can still find out what is going on with them."
"Some acquaintances are easier to joke around with through the internet because you can really
think about what you're going to say before you say it."
"Because they're hard to look at. You can end the conversation (if they're annoying you)
whenever you want by turning the computer off."
"It's more convenient (time-wise and traveling). An email can be planned but a call/visit cannot.
Also, time of day matters a lot. You will always reach friends through email."
"Less time, less risk of rejection."
"They can't talk back."
"Because I can end conversations whenever I want."
"He can get annoying, so by email I can control how long the visit is."
"I'm lazy."
"Cheaper."
Disagree
"Genuine human interaction is more satisfying in this modern world of technological isolation
masquerading as global interconnection. Electronic communication only adds to our subjection
to technology and fuels our existential despair."
"If I can't meet them face-to-face comfortably, then they're really not my friends."
"If I'm not comfortable visiting them, why would I talk to them online in the first place?
Relationships start in person."
"It is always more personal, more communicative, and more psychologically satisfying to talk
face-to-face or at least voice-to-voice."
"If they're my friends, then I want to get the full effect of the conversation, meaning tone of
voice and body gestures."
"Email is a tool to complement, not substitute human contact."
"I'll often ICQ before visiting (to tell them I'm visiting), but that's it. I'd rather see them."
"It's just more difficult to talk to someone over the internet than face-to-face. You run out of
things to say more quickly."
"Emailing is super impersonal and lame."
"Online chat is cheap."
"I'm not a dork."
"Genuine human interaction is more satisfying in this modern world of technological
isolation masquerading as global interconnection. Electronic communication only
adds to our subjection to technology and fuels our existential despair."
-Anonymous Survey Response
[ The Internet and Social Isolation | The Internet and Social Connectivity | Other Findings ]
revious studies on the effects of the Internet on personal lives fall into two main categories:
those that have found correlations between Internet usage and decreased social interactions
(SIQSS, Carnegie Mellon University), and those that have found that the Internet has the
potential to positively influence people’s social lives (UCLA, Pew).
The 2000 SIQSS study, for example, found correlations that suggest that the more time people
spend on the Internet, the less time they spend interacting with real humans. That study
characterized "heavy" Internet use as spending over 10 hours on the Internet per week. Our
study, consisting of an accidental sampling of 236 Stanford University undergraduates, found the
following results:

Average daily Internet use: 3.46 hours/day

Average weekly Internet use: 24.2 hours/week

87.5% of students sampled used the Internet over 10 hours/week
After analyzing our data on the Internet usage and lifestyles of Stanford undergraduates, we have
found that the Internet’s influence on the lives of students is complex and multifaceted. While
part of our data replicates previous studies on the Internet’s harmful effects, other data confirms
some of the more positive social effects of the Internet. Although correlations in our data suggest
that the Internet has the potential to isolate individuals, many respondents, through their
multiple-choice and written responses, also reflected on the way that the Internet connects people
and has the power to facilitate social interaction. What follows is a discussion of our findings
regarding the Internet’s effect on the personal lives of Stanford undergraduates, a population of
students with exceptionally high average levels of Internet usage.
The Internet and Social Isolation
Confirming the hypothesis that increased Internet use is closely correlated with reduced time
with friends and family, a hypothesis also advanced by the 2000 SIQSS study, students who
logged the most hours on the Internet:

Spent less hours per week visiting friends in person

Spent less of their Internet time communicating by means of chat applications
As might be expected, students who spent the greatest amount of time on the Internet tended to
use the Internet for a greater variety of activities besides communicating with friends and family.
Students with the least Internet hours per day, on the other hand, were far more likely to spend a
majority of their Internet time engaged in some form of communication. Along these lines, the
majority of students who engaged in non-social Internet activities, such as gaming, were also the
students who spent the most time on the Internet.
Also confirming the results of the SIQSS and the CMU studies and fulfilling our expectations,
we found that email was the most popular use of the Internet among the students surveyed.
We also found that students who identified themselves as being more inclined towards the
humanities, or "fuzzies," obtained different results than students with a technical academic focus,
or "techies." Our results showed that, compared to humanities students, technical students:




Spent nearly 25% more time on the Internet per week
Spent less time visiting friends in person
Spent less of their Internet time using chatting applications such as Instant Messenger and
ICQ
Spent more of their free time in their dormitory rooms
Although it is possible that a greater percentage of self-identified "techies" had more academic
reasons to spend time on the Internet or in front of their computers, our results suggest that a
relationship does exist between students’ increased interaction with computers and decreased
social interaction with peers, where social interaction may includes either person-to-person
contact or online chat.
Increased time spent on the Internet also seems to detract from some of students’ daily activities:



A majority of students agreed that they use the Internet to procrastinate
Students using the Internet the most also obtained less sleep on average than their peers
who used the Internet less frequently
An unexpected 11% of students surveyed spent more hours per day on the Internet than
sleeping
Since many students have direct Internet access in their rooms (and all of them have access in
their dormitories), the computer becomes a focal point as a means of communication,
information-hunting, and entertainment. However, the Internet also serves as a major distraction,
luring students away from other activities, such as socializing and academic work. In a recent
interview, Professor Norman Nie commented that, "the Internet can be seen as a Skinnerian
device," in that, just as psychologist B.F. Skinner created addictive behavior in mice by means of
random reinforcement, part of the compelling nature of the Internet lies in a similar process.
"Sometimes you click on a link and find a reward, sometimes you don’t," said Nie.
Despite the above results, students had a wide variety of opinions as to the power of the Internet
to isolate people:


A surprising 26% of students surveyed admitted to feeling isolated or depressed because
of the Internet.
An even greater number, 39% of the students felt that the Internet did have an isolating
effect on people in general.
When asked to explain why they might feel more comfortable using email or instant chat
applications as opposed to personal visits or the
telephone, students varied considerably in their
responses. Although it is difficult to expect that
subjects will accurately self-report on how they
perceive the Internet to have influenced their
behavior, our results do point to a common
awareness among students that the Internet has changed many social interactions.
The remarks of some students confirm the hypothesis that communication by means of the
Internet has contributed to a breakdown of more personal forms of communication, whether in
person or by voice contact. One question in our survey asked students to respond to the
following statement: "I have friends I am more comfortable emailing of IM-ing than calling or
visiting."
Over half of students felt that the statement was true.
Internet communication seems to act for some of these students as a barrier, allowing students to
confine certain social interactions to the Internet, rather than elevate them to a level requiring
more intimate contact and social accountability.



One freshman remarked that she was "better able to express [herself] when emailing or
IM-ing."
Another student reported that one of the benefits of instant chat was that "there are no
awkward silences."
A junior described email as providing a "neutral space" in which to communicate with
others, commenting that "it’s funny, because one would probably get over the need for a
neutral space after having more contact with the person."
It seems that communicating through the Internet allows people to abandon more traditional
forms of social and conversational etiquette required for more personal interactions involving the
face and voice. Just as Nie predicts that the anonymity of the Internet allows people in business
situations to abandon traditional morality and courtesy, these students seem to agree that some
Internet communication can be significantly less personal, with the advantage that one can get
away with reducing online socializing to an activity requiring a minimum of thoughtfulness,
even offering the freedom to lie outright. One such student commented, "it’s easier to I-M or
email and you can always say you have a class and have to go if you don’t have anything more to
say."
The Internet and Social Connectivity
Despite confirming the negative social impact of the Internet, student comments and responses
were often quite positive in their assessment of the Internet’s effect on their abilities to
communicate and socialize. These results therefore seem more reflective of the more positive
social implications of the Internet as discussed by the UCLA and Pew studies.
An overwhelming majority of students surveyed (82%) said that they feel the Internet connects,
rather than isolates people.
We also found, quite unexpectedly, that students who spent the most hours on the Internet per
week also spent the most hours talking on the phone per week. This contrasts with our results
that showed that higher Internet use was correlated with less visiting time and less chat time.
We therefore cannot jump to the extreme conclusion that heavier Internet use necessarily
negatively impacts social contacts. Many students reported that the Internet has facilitated their
communication with professors and has allowed for easier and cheaper long-distance contact
with family and friends.
One of the most common ways students agreed that email makes social connections easier, was
the lack of temporal constraint that it offers. Students remarked that email and instant chat allow
them to communicate with others regardless of time zone or time of day. One student reported
that with the Internet "you can constantly be in contact with people…if I want to drop a little
email to someone, I can do it anytime. If I were to call I could only do it at certain times."
Email also seems to encourage a greater quantity of communications since people can use the
Internet to multitask, chatting with multiple people at a time, or sending out an invitation or
message to several people at once. However, a downside to this is that talking to many people at
once could lead to less intimate conversations, because the user is not focusing on one person at
a time (as opposed to a phone call).
Clearly, the Internet does not always stifle the social relationships of students. On the contrary,
many agreed that the Internet has facilitated and strengthened certain relationships and forms of
communication.
Other Findings of Interest
One of our hypotheses was that the Internet might lead to the abandonment of traditional
relationships in favor of more impersonal methods of social interaction. Although a slight
majority of respondents agreed with the statement that "I have friends I feel more comfortable
emailing or IM-ing than calling or visiting," nearly half of students also denied the truth of the
statement. Despite Stanford students’ high exposure to the Internet, the nature of their social
relationships with friends are not necessarily changing as much as we might have predicted.
Gender Differences
That same question, however, did yield an interesting and unexpected difference: while exactly
half of the males surveyed answered that they had friends they felt more comfortable emailing or
IM-ing than calling or visiting, 64% of females, nearly two-thirds, responded that they felt the
statement was true. In other words, a significantly higher number of females differentiated
between types of relationships that they confine to Internet-based settings, as opposed to social
relationships involving more direct forms of interpersonal contact. While it is impossible to
explain without further research why we encountered such a noticeable gender difference, our
finding has a possible relation to a result published by the Pew study, that one of women’s
primary motivations of using email is that it takes less time than talking. Perhaps women make
more discriminations in how they use their time for socializing, or are simply more aware of the
differences in the quality of their various social interactions.
Freshmen versus Seniors
Another interesting comparison highlighted by our results was the difference in the quality and
quantity of Internet hours per day, between freshmen and seniors. One of the largest differences
was in students’ use of chat applications:

Freshmen spent over five times as much of their Internet time as seniors in using chat
applications, a trend which steadily decreased among older students.
This difference could be attributed to several factors. Firstly, most freshmen are experiencing
living away from home for the first time, and are more eager to maintain frequent
communications with high-school friends and family members.
Another factor, which we had predicted prior to conducting our study, was that freshmen are
simply of a younger generation, and have been exposed to the Internet from a younger age than
upperclassmen. Although they are only four years younger than the seniors, the four year
difference in this case crosses the cusp of Internet development. Because of the rapid growth of
the Internet, college seniors are more likely to have used email and Internet in junior high, or
even high school, than freshmen. Perhaps their increased use of Internet chatting therefore
reflects a higher overall comfort level with interacting with their peers by means of the Internet.
Yet another factor in freshmen’s high level of socialization through instant chat may also relate
to the fact that most of them, newly arrived at Stanford, have easy access to a faster Internet
connection than they have ever experienced. Such a fast connection may encourage them to take
up chat applications with greater frequency, since their fellow freshmen have the same ability to
communicate instantly by means of the Internet.
In contradiction to our expectation that freshmen would overall spend the greatest amount of
time on the Internet, we also discovered the following difference across students of all four
undergraduate classes:

Seniors spent more time on the Internet daily than any other undergraduates.
This fact could possibly be attributed to the fact that many seniors live in single dormitory
rooms, where they are less likely to interact with other people once inside their room, thus
turning to the Internet, either as a form of communication, or as simply something to do.
Another factor in seniors’ use of the Internet is possibly the fact that a higher number of seniors
may be involved in advanced research projects or thesis preparation, for which the Internet is a
useful tool. Seniors may also use the Internet to search for potential employment or graduate
school opportunities, a potential use of the Internet which younger undergraduates are less likely
to pursue.
Our findings partially replicate the HomeNet study's findings in the ways people use the Internet
to communicate. Even though students are extremely positive about the way that the Internet
allows them to feel more connected to people, it also results in perceptions of social isolation,
and seems to correlate to actual findings suggesting that increased Internet use may cause a
decrease in interpersonal interaction. Although email and instant chat applications seem to afford
an “isolation antidote,” allowing rapid communication with more people in less time, at any time
of day, such social technology does have potential and actual antisocial consequences. In
particular, that use of such "social" technology diminishes as Internet use goes up suggests that,
while the Internet may not be inherently antisocial, high use of the Internet very likely causes
social isolation.
Although our data do suggest that the Internet has substantially
impacted the quality of the social interactions and lifestyles of
Stanford undergraduates, a population in whose lives the Internet
plays an extremely large role, it is necessary to keep in mind that
the Internet does not necessarily isolate all who use it. Individual
differences may also factor heavily in the phenomenon of Internet isolation. As one student
remarked, “the Internet exaggerates existing conditions. If you are isolated to begin with, the
Internet can make you more isolated. If you are social to begin with, the Internet will help you
be more social.”
Need for Balance, Future Research
If one thing is clear from our survey of previous research and our own study, it is that the
Internet has a complex effect on personal social lives. On one hand, it brings together
individuals and groups in ways that previously were impossible. On the other hand, it may
replace more connective, meaningful contact with less personal, weaker social ties. Given the
sometimes contradictory results of the various studies as well as methodological problems (even
in our own study), more research must be conducted to pinpoint the phenomenon of Internet
isolation. Does high Internet use actually cause isolation? Does living alone (for example, in a
single dormitory room) cause one to rely more on the Internet for social interaction? What
amount or kind of Internet use is socially isolating? Only carefully conducted studies can answer
these interesting and increasingly important questions. However, even without the benefit of
future research, Internet users should closely examine their behavior, to ensure that excessive
time online will not negatively impact their personal well-being. We shouldn't throw our
computers out the window, but neither should we charge on blindly into complete dependence on
the Internet. As with many things in life, it seems that moderation and balance are key to
maximizing the Internet's positive effect.