The research summarized in this article compares the quality of online and offline social interaction and relationships. The studies compare bankers' and college students' evaluations of online and offline communication, the quality of social relationships sustained online versus offline among a sample of new Internet users, and the quality of social interaction in listservs, a type of online group. The implications of these findings depend, however, on whether the interaction online adds to or substitutes for offline interaction and relationships. Our findings are based on both qualitative and quantitative data collected over a four-year period. Compared to men, women find e-mail contact with friends and family gratifying.
Women are more likely than men to maintain kin relationships by e-mail.
Women's messages sent to people far away are more filled with personal content, and are more likely to be exchanged in intense burst. They are more likely than men to use e-mail to keep in touch with people who live far away. The fit between women's expressive styles and the features of e-mail seems to be making it especially easy for women to expand their distant social networks. A summary of the limited research available on the effects of home computer use on children's physical, cognitive, and social development, focusing primarily on studies related to use of video games and the Internet. The Dynamics of Help at Home.