News / Profession

The Internet and Depression

Editorial Staff

The Internet has been hailed by some as the greatest invention of the 20th century. It's an invaluable tool for conducting research and the free exchange of ideas and information. But can it cause depression?

Apparently so. According to a recent two-year study of nearly 100 families with Internet access, spending just a few hours on line can leave some people feeling more socially isolated, lonely and depressed than they were before.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that the more time subjects spent on the Internet, the higher they scored in measures of loneliness and depression. Teenagers appeared the most vulnerable to the darker aspects of the Internet.

"We were surprised to find that what is a social technology has such antisocial consequences," said Dr. Robert Kraut, the study's lead author. Kraut and his colleagues also advised that "Until the technology evolves to be more beneficial, people should moderate how much they use the Internet and monitor the uses to which they put it."

Reference

Study: Net use causes depression. Reuters, September 4, 1998.

October 1998