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

[Phil Gyford]

Not sure what you mean by "hasn't been picked up elsewhere". It was in the

papers and the research has no doubt been roundly and rightly slagged off

in every online community/mailing list/etc you could care to name. OK, I'm

basing my comments on a self-selecting and not entirely meaningful sample,

but... oh, that sounds familiar.


Phil


At 13:16 03/09/98 +0100, you wrote:

>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



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