1 . Life in the Internet age is lonely—or is it? That’s what experts in human interaction are debating after a new Stanford University survey has been published.
According to the study, the more time people spend online, the less they can spare for real-life relationships with family and friends. The researchers asked 113 people about the Web’s influence on daily activities. 36％ of those people are online for more than five hours a week.” As Internet use becomes more widespread, it will have an increasingly isolating (孤立的) effect on society,” says Robert Kraut, one of the researchers.
Scholars and Web lovers criticized the study for stretching its data to make the “isolating” point. While 13％ of regular Web users admitted the loss of time with loved ones, 60％ reported watching less TV. The survey also shows that E-mail is the most popular online activity. If some of webheads (网虫)spend what was once passive TV time keeping company with friends via E-mails, “that’s a move toward greater connectedness,” says Paul Resnick, a professor at the University of Michigan.
This isn’t the first claim that the Web should be criticized. A 1998 report monitored 73 Pittsburgh-area families’ Net use for a year. People who used the Internet more “talked less to family members and reported being lonelier and more depressed.” says Robert Kraut.
“It’s true that there have been big declines in social connectedness over the past decades, but those declines began before the Internet was invented,” says Thomas Putnam.
As Amitay Etzioni says, the Internet gives us a different kind of social life—not better or worse than before, but just different.
1. Who claimed that the Web had negative influence?| A．Paul Resnick. | B．Robert Kraut. |
| C．Thomas Putnam. | D．Amitay Etzioni. |
| A．the opinion expressed in Bowling Alone |
| B．the survey made by the University of Michigan |
| C．the conclusion in a report written in 1998 |
| D．the study conducted by Stanford University |
| A．watching TV used to take time away from staying online |
| B．the Web was blamed more than once for causing an isolating effect |
| C．36％ of web users spend more than five hours a week online |
| D．the Web has the same influence as telephones and televisions |
| A．how we can make a better use of the Internet |
| B．how declines in social connectedness appear |
| C．whether the Internet causes an isolating effect |
| D．what a different life the Internet brings to us |
