I think it's no simple as that. 1/ Time use studies as the one mentioned often record only the major activity, to reduce the reporting burden of the respondent. So, what do you report when doing household chores and having the radio, or TV running and you listen, or hear, at the same time? The same is true of the kids in front of the screen who play a game together - is this to be reported as a PC activity or a social one? 2/ And writing emails - a social or an Internet activity? We know people largely use the Internet as an additional communication tool. So people who use the Internet for more than an hour per day for personal use will probably write quite a lot of emails. This is called asocial ? I might add: If it wouldn't be an email but a letter that takes the time - would this cause a social concern ?
*Internet use* covers personal use of the Internet over a 24-hour period and does not include use of the Internet for other reasons (e.g., work or school).
...
*Heavy users* are those who spent more than one hour on the Internet during the day
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060802/d060802a.htm If I remember well Nie also reported that heavy Internet users were less sociable face to face than others but mixed Internet use and email use. 3/ Multivariate study can provide result that contradict the Canadian results. After taking the socio-demographic composition and social capital indicators in a multivariate analysis into consideration, as we did in the SOCQUIT project, I did NOT find that regular Internet correlates with people having less contacts. Also, concerning civic activities, in my analysis based on European Social Survey data I got the contrary of the following Canadian result:
Heavy Internet users also devoted less time to participating in .., engaging in civic and volunteer activities, ... .
But maybe delving into the report will solve these contradictions - F. Thomas Ulf-Dietrich Reips wrote:
Interesting effect ;-) As surprising as finding that people who almost always use a car for transportation lead a different lifestyle than those who exclusively use horses for transportation. And those who are almost always on the road spend less time socializing with their spouse or partner, or their children and friends. And they may also not have time to indulge in outdoor activities. So what? Sad to see this type of study reflected in the media over and over again. Regards, --u
At 10:18 Uhr -0400 2.8.2006, Mark Bell wrote:
Folks,
This was posted on Canoe.ca today:
"Heavy Internet users are different 2006-08-02 09:40:00
OTTAWA (CP) - There's a new study that says heavy Internet users lead a considerably different lifestyle than people who do not surf the web.
Statistics Canada says it found that heavy Net users spent less time to socializing with their spouse or partner, or their children and friends.
And they tended to stay at home, showing less interest in outdoor activities than non-users."
Rest of article: http://money.canoe.ca/News/Sectors/Entertainment/2006/08/02/1715240-cp.html
More information about the study can be found here: http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060802/d060802a.htm
Happy reading,
M
-- Mark Bell MA student in Ball State University's Digital Storytelling program http://www.storygeek.com "The future is here...it's just not widely distributed." - Tim O'Reilly _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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