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Internet
use is being integrated into society, a study says
By
Stephanie Stoughton
Boston Globe
Susana
Lopez calls the Internet her "window to the world." She
checks her e-mail several times a day, searches the Web
for information about her native Argentina, and researches
vacations online. But here's what she doesn't do: Stare
at her computer screen, clicking across cyberspace, at the
expense of spending time with her friends and family.
"Our lives go on," said Lopez, a marketing consultant who
lives in Brookline, Mass.
One of the greatest myths surrounding the Internet may be
that it's gradually turning America into a nation of recluses,
according to a study by the University of California in
Los Angeles. In reality, the vast majority of Internet users
may be like Lopez, who has made the technology an integral
part of her life without sacrificing personal and social
contacts.
"There is so much talk about Internet users being lonely
and isolated," said Jeffrey Cole, director of the UCLA Center
for Communication Policy, which released the study Wednesday.
"People online are much different than they were four years
ago."
About 92 percent of Internet users surveyed said they spent
about the same amount of time or more time with their families
as they did before they had online access. At home, nearly
half of users said they shared online time with their partners,
spouses or children at least once a week.
While Internet use may not be inhibiting social contact,
it appears to be cutting into television time. Compared
to nonusers, Web surfers watch significantly less television.
"One thing we're comfortable saying is that time spent on
the Internet is coming from television," Cole said. "We
think users are watching 28 percent less television."
While UCLA's study shows Americans have a healthy attitude
toward the Internet, other scholars have discovered a darker
side.
A survey of 4,113 people by Stanford University's Institute
for the Quantitative Study of Society found that some Internet
users were blending their work and home lives at the expense
of social contact.
Several surveys find that Web surfing - particularly at
auction, pornography, and financial sites - can be so addictive
that it impacts users' personal relationships. Many company
managers complain that it distracts employees from their
work.
According to Nielsen/NetRatings, employees spent about 21
hours on the Internet at work last month - more than twice
the amount they did at home. In late August, a spike in
traffic revealed that many employees were searching the
Web for the latest entertainment news, including updates
on the final episode of "Survivor."
Such cyber-slacking has prompted many corporations to crack
down on personal use of office computers and monitor employees'
Web use.
But UCLA's study of 2,096 respondents suggests Internet
access at the office does not have an adverse impact on
employees' work - at least in the view of employees. More
than half of the survey's respondents said their productivity
had actually increased. About 40 percent said nothing changed,
while less than 5 percent of users said they had become
less productive.
Over the next several years, researchers hope the continuing
surveys will lead to a broader understanding of the Internet
and its impact on users' perceptions and social activities.
Already, the Internet has become more mainstream now that
more than two-thirds of Americans have ventured online.
Between the ages of 45 and 55, women are more likely than
men to have online access. About 41 percent of surveyed
adults with incomes under $15,000 now use the Internet.
It's not clear whether the cost of computers remains the
largest barrier for nonusers. About 41 percent of nonusers
said they were likely to access the Internet within the
next year. Only 9 percent of respondents without Internet
access blamed computer costs for keeping them off the Web.
Both Internet users and nonusers said online security and
privacy were significant problems - ones that were much
larger than researchers had anticipated.
"People fear that corporations are watching their buying
and placing cookies (files that gather data) in their computers,"
Cole said. For the most part, people who used the Internet
considered it a powerful tool for collecting information,
buying products, and contacting people.
Christopher Panos, a Boston attorney, says e-mail and other
communications technologies have allowed him to keep in
regular contact with coworkers, family, and friends.
For example, Panos scanned in a photograph of a marlin he
caught during a fishing trip in Venezuela and shipped it
to former housemates at Georgetown University.
"I correspond with people both on a business level and personal
level with greater frequency," he said.
In the survey, some parents believe the Internet had improved
the grades of their children. More than one-fourth of adults
said grades had risen, while 71 percent said grades had
stayed the same.
Susana Lopez's 15-year-old son, for instance, has surfed
the Web to research a history project. Her 9-year-old daughter
found information online on the Dia de los Muertos (Day
of the Dead) holiday for a class.
But Lopez also has been known to rein in her Internet-savvy
kids. "There are limits," she said. "There are other things
they can be doing."
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