Survey raises issue of isolated Web users
By Bruce Bower
Boot up, log on, and tune out. That’s the mantra of a small but rapidly growing number of Internet users, according to a controversial national survey released last week.
People who spend 10 or more hours per week on the Internet substantially cut down the amount of time they devote to talking with friends and family, both in person and by telephone, say two Stanford University political scientists.
“The more hours people use the Internet, the less time they spend with real human beings,” contends Norman H. Nie, who directed the survey with his colleague Lutz Erbring. “The Internet could be the ultimate isolating technology that reduces our participation in communities even more than television did.”