You will not only be able to e-mail photos of your vacation trip and your children to your distant aunt and grandparents, or point them to your family web site, but you will be able to see and hear them via the Internet. That strikes me as a major advance for human interaction. The second most-common use of the Internet, the study noted, is research. The jury is out here. There is, of course, a dark side to the Internet, as there is to any technology.
Some children play too many violent, socially worthless games.
Some people spend too much time in chat rooms. But even here, the study found that only one person in five reported ever having been in one, and virtually no one over the age of 30 used them. Although Nie's study didn't specifically address the issue, the Internet can be addictive. A number of Web sites have sprung up in response to it, including The Center for Online Addiction . As if to underscore the point, the center's web site offers, of all things, an online Virtual Clinic to help those in need.