Book,
Social consequences of internet use: Access, involvement, and interaction.
MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, US, (2002)
Abstract
(From the cover) Drawing on nationally representative telephone surveys
conducted from 1995 to 2000, the authors offer a picture of Internet
use in America. Using quantitative data, as well as case studies
of Web sites, they explore the impact of Internet on society from
3 perspectives: access to Internet technology (the digital divide),
involvement with groups and communities through the Internet (social
capital), and use of the Internet for social interaction and expression
(identity). To provide a more comprehensive account of Internet use,
the authors' comparisons across media and include nonusers and former
users in their research. The authors call their research the Syntopia
Project to convey the Internet's role as one among a host of communication
technologies as well as the synergy between people's online activities
and their real-world lives. Their major findings is that Americans
use the Internet as an extension and enhancement of their daily routines.
The authors argue that contrary to media sensationalism, the Internet
is not a utopia, liberating people to form a global egalitarian community,
nor a dystopia, producing armies of disembodied, lonely individuals.
Like any form of communication, it is as helpful or harmful as those
who use it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)
Tags
- behavior*;
- digital
- divide*;
- facilitation;
- identity;
- interaction;
- internet
- internet*;
- involvement;
- issues*;
- social
- society*;
- socioeconomic
- status;
- usage
