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More Internet use is more depressing, study says PITTSBURGH (August 30, 1998 6:43 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) -- The more hours people spend on the Internet, the more depressed, stressed and lonely they feel, according to a groundbreaking study that surprised its authors. Internet use had the same effect even for people who spent most of their time in such social activities as chat rooms or exchanging e-mail, said the study headed by Robert Kraut, a social psychology professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Sociable users ended up feeling just as isolated as users who spent more time crawling the Web for information, Kraut said Sunday. One reason for the negative effect may have been that using the Internet left less time for the deeper relationships of friends and family, Kraut suggested. "People are substituting weaker social ties for stronger ones," he said. "They're substituting conversations on narrower topics with strangers for conversations with people who are connected to their life." It was the first study to examine the emotional impact of people's Internet use over time, Kraut said. The findings contradicted the researchers' expectation that Internet use would foster social contact, especially through e-mail and chat rooms. Kraut and his colleagues followed 93 Pittsburgh-area families for two years. The families were given computer, phone lines and use of the Internet for free, in return for agreeing to fill out occasional questionnaires. The true-false questionnaires included such statements as "I can't find companionship when I want it," "I felt that everything I did was an effort," and "I felt I could not shake off the blues, even with help from my family and friends." The number of hours they spent on line were recorded electronically. Participants' levels of depression and loneliness were measured at the start of the study. At the end of the two years, researchers found they could predict changes in an individual's emotional state according to the number of hours spent on the Internet. The reverse was not true. "Depression and loneliness doesn't predict subsequent use of the Internet," Kraut said. The $1.5 million study was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Markle Foundation and 13 computer, software or communications companies, including AT&T Research, Bell Atlantic, the U.S. Postal Service, Apple Computer, Hewlett Packard and Intel. It is to be published this week in The American Psychologist, the monthly journal of the American Psychological Association. One study participant, 17-year-old Andrea Rubinsky of Pittsburgh, said she didn't feel any worse for her Internet use, although her Internet use has dropped since the study began. She started out using it 10 hours to 15 hours per week but now averages about three hours, she estimated. "It just also might be I have more things to do now," Andrea said. She made no lasting friends through the chat rooms, she said, but does use e- mail to keep up with friends she has met in person. Her father, Peter, also didn't feel he ever neglected personal relationships to spend time on-line. "I would say there's a conflict with other things that needed to get done. The grass didn't get mowed sometimes and the car didn't get washed," Rubinsky said. The study will continue in order to examine the mechanisms that seem to produce the emotional effects and how computer use compares with television use. Other scientists told The New York Times that the research may start a debate over how the Internet should be shaped. Christine Riley, a psychologist at Oregon-based Intel, told the Times the research results surprised her but that more study was needed. Tora Bikson, a senior scientist at Rand, the research institution, said the study was carefully done and not easily ignored. By Claudia Coates, Associated Press Writer Copyright 1998 Nando.net Copyright 1998 The Associated Press ------------------------------------------------------- hi all for whatever it's worth i think the conclusions drawn are much too blanket-like to mean anything significant - e.g. what about those who actively want to get on the internet [as opposed to having it handed to you] and what are their reasons and responses? janet [log in to unmask]