PSYCHOLOGY OF CYBERSPACE

    Cyberspace: Sad Lonely World Discovered
    Amy Mason · 8/30/98 at 6:10 PM ET

    Sad, Lonely World Discovered in Cyberspace

    New York Times, Sunday, August 30, 1998:

    "In the first concentrated study of the social and psychological effects of Internet use at home, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have found that people who spend even a few hours a week on line experience higher levels of depression and lonliness than they would have if they used the computer network less frequently."

    According to the article, "The results of the $1.5million project ran completely contrary to expectations of the social scientists who designed it and to many of the organizations that financed the study. These included technology companies like the Intel Corporation, Hewlet Packard, AT&T Research, and Apple Computer, as well as the National Science Foundation."

    "Researchers hypothesize that relationships maintained over long distances without face-to-face contact ultimately do not provide the kind of support and reciprocity that typically contribute to a sense of psychological security and happiness..."


    Other items mentioned in the article:
    - Two year study.
    - Conducted in the Pittsburgh area
    - Study to be published this week by The American Psychologist

    Replies:
    • Psychological Impact of the Internet, by Henry Stein, 8/30/98
    • Are the Children Who Use the Internet Sad and Lonely?, by Alice Abarbanel, 8/31/98
      • re: children, by John Suler, 9/1/98
    • re: sad and lonely, by John Suler, 8/31/98
      • Setting a timer so as to avoid depression..., by Patti, 8/31/98
        • re: timer, by John Suler, 9/1/98
          • this newbie has indeed over-indulged, by L Strobel, 9/9/98
            • Just had to respond!, by L Strobel, 9/9/98
      • Your opinion..., by L Strobel, 9/5/98
        • analysis of the depression/loneliness study, by John Suler, 9/5/98
          • Gohol article, by scurryless, 9/13/98
            • critique and defense, by John Suler, 9/13/98
        • which came first?, by tama, 9/9/98
          • re: which came first (correlation), by John Suler, 9/9/98

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