Isolation Increases with Internet Use

• Isolation Increases with Internet Use

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.

5. The Internet has changed the lives of Americans as much as the telephone in the early 20^th 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 self-report 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.

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 eco-psychology 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 health-related 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.'

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.'

1. In his study on computer use, psychologist Robert Kraut shows that the internet has a __________________________________________________ (up to 5 words)

_______________________________________, 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 __________________________________________________________
   

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. 

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

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.