That report said people who spent a few or more hours a week online grew slightly more depressed and lonely as they used the Internet. Psychologists were not surprised by the findings of the Stanford study, saying that if someone is spending more time online it was going to take time away from their work or relationships. John Grohol, Ph.D., a psychologist from Austin, Texas, is of the opinion that being online is not negative. Grohol says that people are spending time online because something is drawing them there rather than to their real-life relationships. Relationships online can be just as powerful and moving as real-life ones.
Real relationships require responsibility.
Some people seek out the online world because they are phobic about the real world, Orzack says, and for them they go online because it gives them a sense of identity. For lonely people it is not a good thing to be online because they become more isolated. However, Orzack says, e-mail and family Web pages allow people also to keep connections to family members who live far away, reinforcing valuable relationships. David Greenfield, Ph.D., a psychologist from Danbury, Conn., who has written a book about Internet addiction called Virtual Addiction , says the jury is still out about whether online time is hurting society. But the online world can be very addicting, with people obsessively gambling and downloading pornography, acting in a way that is analogous to drinking alcohol.