Effects of Loneliness and Satisfaction through CMC

This study seeks to investigate whether internet habits such as, instances used a day, time spent per week, and age introduced to the internet, have any effect on how lonely we are and how satisfied we are with our face to face relationships. These findings are important as previous studies have shown that those who are lonely suffer from a wide variety of psychological and self reported behavioral issues such as anxiety, depression, boredom, self-depreciation, and interpersonal hostility. Although the internet is widely used and it would be merely impossible to eliminate this use, the findings from this study will give perspective to the optimal amount of internet use and the optimal age to be introduced to the internet in order to avoid problems of loneliness and assure that our society becomes satisfied with their relationships, whether they are face to face or online relationships. Effects of Loneliness and Satisfaction through CMC More and more people are turning to the Internet for such activities as shopping, information, communication, plus many other things (Hamburger and Ben-Artzi, 2003). The dominance of the Internet is becoming clear, and as it is becoming more influential, observers are noting that heavy Internet users seem alienated from normal social contacts as the Internet is becoming the predominate social factor in their lives (Hamburger and Ben-Artzi, 2003). Although Internet may seem great, when it starts to interfere with peoples social and emotional feelings it becomes a hazard. Kraut, Patterson, Lundmark, Kiesler, Mukopadhyay, and Scherlis, (1998) carried out a longitudinal study to examine the effects of Internet on social involvement and psychological well-being. One of their main findings was that heavy use of the Internet is related to the experience of loneliness among users. The results from this study are in line with other academic scholars in this field who also concluded that the Internet caused a negative reaction among users. Brenner (1997) put forth the idea that use of the Internet interferes with other activities and is likely to lead to addiction. Similarly, Stoll (1995) and Turkle (1996) presented that the use of Internet is likely to result in social isolation. Kraut et al. (1998) demonstrates that Internet has an effect on an individual’s social and emotional status; however, the present study will fill attempt to fill in the gaps by studying how much daily Internet use it takes to effect ones behaviors, how many hours a week spent on the internet it takes to become lonely, and from what age does one have to start using the Internet in order to get addicted. This study will also clarify whether people develop stronger relationships over the Internet or through face to face communication, and clearly distinguish which source develops more satisfying relationships. Loneliness is important to research, because it is such a common problem for many people (Russell, Paplau and Cutrona, 1980). A national survey found that 26% of Americans reported having felt “very lonely or remote from other people” during the past few weeks (Bradburn, 1969). Russell et al, (1980) have also found that loneliness has been linked to a variety of other serious and social problems, including alcoholism, adolescent delinquent behavior, suicide, physical illness and overutilization of health care services. According to Emmanouilides and Hammond (2000), future research should be done to measure the amount of time people spend on the Internet. Secondly, consistency of personality traits should be measured to gain some significant trends to explain why different types of people spend different amounts of time on the internet. This study aims to fill in the gaps by researching how much time people spend on the internet weekly, how many instances one has on the Internet daily, and the age at which these people started to use the internet. To stay consistent with personality traits a loneliness and satisfaction scale will be used to help us conclude and justify our reasoning behind use of the internet. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study is to obtain significant data to interpret whether students become lonely or satisfied through excess interaction with the internet on a daily or weekly basis, and see whether the age they started using the Internet has any effects on their habits or interactions today. On the other hand, this study will also determine whether our participant’s internet habits have any effect on how satisfied they are with their face to face relationships as well as their online relationships. Background Information Twenty five years ago, computers primary use involved science, engineering and business. By 1998 approximately 40% of all US households owned a personal computer and roughly one third of these homes had the Internet (Kraut et al, 1998). Currently in 2009, the majorities of students have a personal computer and/or are connected to the Internet. Wireless Internet has widened the ability of where you can use the Internet, and now PDA phones with Internet are already becoming a part of history (Emmanouilides, & Hammond, 2000). Stole (1995) and Turkle (1996) argue that the rise in Internet use is causing people to become socially isolated and cut off from genuine social relationships. On the other hand, scholars argue that the internet leads to more and better social relationships. Minimizing the constraints of geography or isolation, brought about from stigma, illness or schedule allows people to join groups and connect with others on the basis of interests rather than convenience (Katz & Aspden, 1997; Rheingold 1993). Although the Internet seems to be having a negative effect on ones social and emotional status, the uses of the gratification theory help illustrate and clarify what motivates individuals to use the Internet. According to Muhtasab and Frey (2008), uses and gratifications theory focuses on the choices that media users make to fulfill their needs. Given the emergence of computers and the boom of the Internet, scholars began studying people’s motivation for and satisfaction from using the Internet (Muhtasab & Frey, 2008). Ferguson and Perse (2000) explain that people select media based on their needs, and they make choices among functional alternatives which can fulfill similar goals. Papacharissiand and Rubin (2000) compared motives for using the Internet with those for communicating face-to-face and concluded that people use the Internet as a functional alternative when face to face communication is difficult or not preferred. Literature Review This literature review will first outline the dimensions of loneliness and satisfaction. It will then show the full scope of how the amount someone communicates on the Internet each day effects how lonely they become, and how satisfied they become with those relationships. Then acknowledging the time spent on the Internet will allow a correlation to form. This study will lastly evaluate the ages at which children are introduced to the Internet and how this affects their social and emotional well being today. Loneliness Peplau and Perlman (1979) define loneliness as a response to a dispatch between desired and actual relationships. The problem with loneliness goes deeper. Many scholars have suggested a wide variety of psychological and self reported behavioral issues of loneliness which include anxiety, depression, boredom, selfdepreciation, and interpersonal hostility (Jones, Freemon, & Goswick, 1981; Russle, Peplau, & Ferguson, 1978). Russell et al. (1980) explain that loneliness is related to a number of personal characteristics, including low self-esteem, shyness, feelings of alienation, external locus of control and belief that the world is not a just place. Among students and older adults, loneliness is linked to negative effects including boredom, restlessness, unhappiness, and dissatisfaction with social relationships (Perlman, Gerson, & Spinner, 1998). The role of social skills is used to determine the psychological state of loneliness. According to Jones et al. (1981) lonely adolescents and college students have social skill inadequacies including passivity, lack of assertiveness, greater shyness, self consciousness, and problems of inhibited sociability (e.g., Difficulty in making friends). Lonely students report lower dating frequencies, more time spent alone, fewer social and extracurricular activities and less self disclosure (Chelune, Sultane, & Williams, 1980). Kraut et al (1998) acknowledge that self monitoring studies indicate that lonely students spend just as much time with other people as those students who aren’t lonely; however, they point out the ways in which the students interact differently. Students who are lonely generate fewer and less effective solutions to hypothetical interpersonal problems, give less intimate information on self-disclosures, are less willing to share opinions and share more extreme responses to influence attempts, and are less accurate at encoding expressive non-verbal communications (Jones et al. 1982; Horowitz and French, 1979). Satisfaction Shin and Johnson (1978) define relationship satisfaction as a global assessment of a person’s relationship according to their chosen criteria. Judgments of satisfaction are dependent upon a comparison of one’s circumstances with what is thought to be the appropriate standard (Shin & Johnson, 1978). It is important to acknowledge that how satisfied people are with their present state of affairs is based on the comparison for which each individual sets for themselves (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, Griffen, 1985). Individuals may place different values on what is important to satisfy them and what is not so important (Diener et al., 1985). Although one may be satisfied with their online relationships, it is important to be aware that loneliness in students and adults has been linked to negative effects, including dissatisfaction with