Most Americans believe the Internet has improved communication with family and friends, says a 2000 study, dismissing the idea that the Net leads to social isolation.
The survey, released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, also found the gender gap is quickly closing, as nine million U.S. women went online for the first time within the six months prior to the study.
The Pew study, based on a survey of 3,533 adults, rejects earlier research suggesting time on the Net detracts from social interaction. To the contrary, the new study says, Internet users in general -- and online women in particular -- believe that their use of e-mail has strengthened relationships and increased their contact with relatives and friends.
"If there's an isolating effect of the Internet, we sure didn't pick it up; we found the exact opposite," Lee Rainie, the project's director, told ThirdAge News. "People, especially women, are very pleased with the way the Internet has improved communication among family and friends. It's a universal reading. The majority of Internet users say this."
Rainie, a former managing editor at U.S. News & World Report, said the study also debunks the myth that Webheads have little social life beyond the glow of their computer screens.
The survey, he noted, found 72 percent of Net users had visited a relative or a friend a day earlier, compared with 61 percent for nonusers. Internet users also were more likely to have phoned friends and relatives. "Use of the Internet," Rainie said, "actually enlarges and enriches most users' social worlds." Overall, two-thirds of Net users said e-mail had improved their contact with friends, while 59 percent of those who e-mail relatives say their level of contact with significant family members had increased as a result. Among women, 60 percent of Net users reported better contact with family, and 71 percent with friends. This study shows more than 55 million Americans -- or six in 10 of all those with Net access -- log on in a typical day, and 29 million are men, 26 million, women. The study found some significant differences between Web habits of men and women: Women are more likely to seek health information, play online games, more inclined to get religious information and research new jobs. Men are more likely to use the Web to get news, seek financial information, trade stock, participate in online auctions, access government Web sites and search for sports news. But the study found men and women are about equal in their use of the Net to send instant messages, browse for fun and get information about popular culture.
Among other findings:The number of Americans who seek information or complete transactions on the Web is the same as the number of those who communicate with e-mail.On a typical day, 22 percent of online Americans get news from the Web; 21 percent browse just for fun; 18 percent look for information about a hobby; 16 percent do job-related research; and 14 percent do research about products and services.Some 26 million Americans have used e-mail to start communicating regularly with a family member with whom they had not previously had much contact. And 24 million have used the Web and e-mail to locate or hunt for family or friends with whom they had lost touch.About three-quarters of those with Net access have used the Net to research a product, and half have made a purchase online.The study marks the first by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, a research center financed by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The project will explore aspects of the Internet including its effect on children and families, communities, schools, the work place and civic and political life.
