Cyberspace: Sad Lonely World Discovered

Psychology of Cyberspace (Suler)

Cyberspace: Sad Lonely World Discovered

by Amy Mason, 8/30/98

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

Psychological Impact of the Internet by Henry Stein, 8/30/98
Are the Children Who Use the Internet Sad and Lonely? by Alice Abarbanel, Ph.D., 8/31/98
re: sad and lonely by John Suler, 8/31/98