Internet Paradox Study

The Internet Paradox study (Kraut et al., 1998) found evidence of a causal link between Internet use and depression, but it may have been specific to novice Internet users.The relationship between Internet use, social support and depression was reformulated drawing on social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1997) to account for the possible influence of self-efficacy, Internet-related stress, and perceived social support.The Internet paradox study (Kraut et al., 1998), part of the HomeNet project at Carnegie Mellon University, provided important preliminary evidence of the possible harmful effects of Internet use.The results were also paradoxical in the face of competing, if inconsistent, evidence of the positive social impacts of Internet use. Wynn and Katz (1997) emphasized the inherent "situatedness" of Internet use in a broader social context that makes it impossible to completely separate the virtual world online from the real world off-line. Ethnographic research suggests that online communication supplements existing real world relationships rather than displaces them (Hamman, 1999).Wellman and Gulia (1999) concluded that online relationships can be strong and intimate and may strengthen real world relationships as much as diminish them.Surveys (Katz & Aspden, 1997; Parks & Floyd, 1996; Parks & Roberts, 1998) indicated that the Internet spawned highly developed online relationships, many of which led to real world social contacts, suggesting that social isolation might decrease with greater Internet use.In a Pew Research Center poll (Pew Research Center, 2000) most Internet users said that e-mail had improved their connections to family and friends, and those perceptions increased the longer users had been on the Internet and the more they used it. other scholars have warned about the potential harmful effects of online interpersonal communication, blaming online technology for disrupting real world networks (Heim, 1993; Stoll, 1995) and creating a "lonely crowd" in cyberspace (Kroker & Weinstein, 1994). Turkle (1995, p. 235) pointed out the absurdity of the notion that community can arise from among people sitting alone, typing messages to virtual friends. Nie and Erbring (2000) found that as Internet use increased, users were more likely to report a decrease in time spent talking to family and friends and attending social events. Online relationships may develop less interdependence, understanding, and commitment than comparable off-line ones do (Parks & Roberts, 1998).

However, all these studies make the possibly mistaken assumption that face-to-face relationships are inherently superior to online relationships (Hamman, 1999; Parks & Roberts, 1998) and neglect the possibility of hyperpersonal online interactions that may be more intimate than their offline counterparts (Walther, 1996). Aside from Turkle's ethnographic case studies (which are contradicted by Hamman's, 1999), the hypothesis that online relationships diminish real world relationships has sparse empirical support. Riphagen and Kanfer (1997) found that e-mail users had more distance relationships than non-users and that the total number of relationships was about equal, suggesting that local (presumably strong) ties suffered as a result of having e-mail.

Social cognitive theory provides a comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding human behavior, social interaction and psychological well-being (Bandura, 1986; 1989; 1997) with which we propose to reformulate the relationship between Internet use and depression.The self-efficacy mechanism (Bandura, 1977; 1982; 1997) pertains since it describes the cognitive processes that relate the acquisition to the performance of new behaviors.


Whereas Kraut et al. found that Internet use caused depression, which was also directly linked to stress, the sociocognitive view differentiates the relationships among these effects. According to Bandura (1997, p. 153), depression results from "the inability to influence events and social conditions that significantly affect one's life," while stress is an emotional state generated by threats and taxing demands (p. 262). Adversity leads to depression when people create a depressing social environment for themselves, provoking social rejection through their own alienating behavior.College students are one such lonely and depressed population (Rich & Scovel, 1987) for which social support buffers the effects of stress on depression (Cohen et al., 1986) and for which the Internet paradox might be stood on its head. Indeed, the situation of college students exposes the questionable assumption of equating distant ties with weak ones.



References


Kiesler, S. & Kraut, R. (1999). Internet use and the ties that bind. The American Psychologist, 54, 783-784.

Kraut, R., Patterson, M., Lundmark, V., Kiesler, S., Mukophadhyay, T., & Scherlis, W. (1998). Internet paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being? American Psychologist, 53, 1017-1031

Kraut, R., Mukhopadhyay, T., Szczypula, J., Kiesler, S., & Sherlis, B. (1999) Information and communication: Alternative uses of the Internet in households. Information Systems Research, 10, 287-303.


and many more not mentioned here....