Good news for those who are deeply attached to their internet connection! Though it has been suspected that the internet might isolate us all and make us more likely to stay at home alone, rather than socializing, a new study from the Pew Research Center has found that this doesn’t seem to be the case. Pew polled 2,512 adults and found that “the extent of social isolation has hardly changed since 1985, contrary to concerns”. CompuServe, America Online, and Prodigy started providing dial-up Internet access ten years later, in 1995.
The study also found that mobile-phone use and active Web participation yields “larger and more diverse core discussion networks.” Social media is also helping people expand their social interaction, too. According to Pew, those who use the Internet frequently are more likely to discuss political topics with someone of a different party.
Frequent Web users are more likely to speak with neighbors in person than those who don’t use the Web as often. The study also found that bloggers are 72 percent “more likely to belong to a local voluntary association” than those who don’t blog.
Perhaps most important, Pew found that just because someone is a heavy Web user, that doesn’t mean they remove themselves from traditional social activities like visiting a restaurant or hanging out at a bar on a Friday night. According to the study, Web users are “45 percent more likely to visit a cafe, 52 percent more likely to visit a library, 34 percent more likely to visit a fast-food restaurant, 69 percent more likely to visit other restaurants, and 42 percent more likely to visit a public park.”
So there!