Survey disputes notion that Internet encourages isolation

Online gender gap closing fast

May 10, 2000
Web posted at: 9:59 a.m. EDT (1359 GMT)

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Far from encouraging social isolation, the Internet improves communication with friends and families, according to a study released Wednesday.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project also indicates that more than 9 million U.S. women logged on to the Internet for the first time in the last six months, closing the gender gap among Web surfers and raising the total number of Americans who use the Internet daily to 55 million.

"It's clear that the Internet is being woven into people's most important relationships," said the project's director, Lee Rainie.

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The survey results are based on telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates among a sample of 3,533 adults in the United States from March 1-31. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

In February, a study by professors at Stanford University and the Free University of Berlin found that spending a lot of time online made some people reclusive.

The Pew study contradicts those findings.

It found that 72 percent of Internet users 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.

Fifty-five percent of Internet users say e-mail has improved communications with family, and 66 percent believe contact with friends has increased because of e-mail. Among women, 60 percent reported better contact with family and 71 percent with friends.

"E-mail is a tool that many people now use to deepen and improve their ties to family and friends," said Rainie. "Use of the Internet actually enlarges and enriches most users' social worlds. And that is particularly true for women."

Steven Jones, a professor of communications at the University of Illinois-Chicago, said the Pew findings confirm his own research that Americans are using the Internet as a communications tool as fundamental as the telephone.

The Pew study found that while the Internet may increase the frequency of contact between friends and relatives, most keep the content light -- e-mailing jokes, news tidbits or family announcements. The study found that most e-mail users are reluctant to use the Internet to discuss upsetting or worrisome topics with friends and relatives.

And although contact increases, it does not necessarily bring relatives emotionally closer. Only 40 percent found e-mail bringing them closer to family, and only 25 percent said they learned more about their family since using e-mail. The numbers are higher for friends.

Rainie said families and friends are close to begin with, so it made sense that the Internet would not always make them closer. The important finding, he said, was the increase in contact.

The survey also found online use among women reaching that of men. Women now make up 50 percent of the online population, although men go online more frequently.

Women also are more likely to go online to search for health information, jobs or just to play games. Men were more likely to search for news, sports and financial information, as well as shop and trade stocks online.

The Washington-based Pew Internet and American Life Project is a new research center funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Its mission is to explore aspects of the Internet relating to children and families, communities, schools, the workplace, and civic and political life.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Pew Internet and American Life Project

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