Re: UKNM: 'higher levels of depression and loneliness'

[kevin moss]

Do you think they will get more cash for further research now?



http://www.salonmagazine.com/21st/rose/1998/09/03straight.html



>I found this article (snipped below) rather disquieting. Can't understand

>why it hasn't been picked up elsewhere. Researchers in the respected Human

>Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon have done some quite

>credible research with a group of Pittsburgh residents indicating that the

>relationships we form online may be qualitatively different from real world

>ones - more ephemeral, less supportive - leading to 'higher levels of

>depression and loneliness' and 'a decline in psychological well-being'.

>

>The sample was not random but large enough (169 individuals) to warrant

>attention. The researchers acknowledged the need for further research.

>Predictably, research sponsors like Intel are less than happy with the

>unexpectedly gloomy results.

>

>Full story in the NYT archive (and at Carnegie Mellon's site

>

>http://homenet.andrew.cmu.edu/Progress/index.html ).

>

>Steve

>

>---

>

>NY Times August 30, 1998, Sunday

>

>Sad, Lonely World Discovered in Cyberspace

>

>By AMY HARMON

>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 loneliness than if they used the computer network

>less frequently.

>

>Participants who were lonelier and more depressed, as determined by

>standard questionnaires at the start of the two-year study, were no more

>drawn to the Internet than those who were originally happier and more

>socially engaged. Instead, Internet use itself appeared to cause a decline

>in psychological well-being, the researchers said.

>

>--snip--

>--

>Steve Bowbrick                                      Webmedia Group

>0171 494 3177                                         0468 257 570

>

>

>

>

http://www.webmedia.com/steve stevewebmedia [dot] com (mailto:stevewebmedia [dot] com)

>

>

>

>http://www.bowbrick.com - he's very advanced for his age...




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