Keeping in Touch in a Wired World
Wired connections are commonplace today. The internet allows us to communicate with anyone, any time, and in different ways. This is great for personal relationships and small groups of friends but bigger groups have been found to require face-to-face interactions.
The people you need to stay in touch with are usually not the same ones you do everyday, so it can be hard to schedule meetings when there are such a myriad of options that exist on the internet.
A new study has found that it actually is easier to keep in touch with the same people you see everyday. Currently they are working on proving that a person who spends more time with friends in person has better relationships and overall feels happier than those who communicate online.
http://www.scienceofrelationships.com/home/2012/11/29/keeping-in-touch-in-a-wired-world/#comments
Title: The Impact of Internet Use on the Social Lives of Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Preliminary Report
Authors: Matthew W. Mosconi, Sara A. Hartley, Angelica Ronald, and William T. Powers
Source: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders , 46(11), 1770-1775
Abstract: Summary: The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship between Internet use and social skills in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Fourteen children and four adolescents with ASD received on-line tasks designed to measure their ability to interpret others' feelings, express sympathy, and initiate conversations. Results indicated that overall, individuals with ASD preferred communicating face-to-face over other types of communication. However, males scored lower than females on all measures. Participants who used the Internet for communicating scored significantly lower than those who did not on all measures except the one measuring empathy. This study highlighted that in children and adolescents with ASD, both face-to-face communication and the use of the Internet may be important for social skills development.
Abstract: This study examines two factors that may lead people to spend more time on the Internet than on other media: (1) reliance on the Internet as a source of information and (2) greater opportunities to communicate face-to-face with others. The results indicate that this is true for individuals over age 50, who use computers at work or home, who have high cognitive scores, or who score above average on tests of communication skills.
Title: Social Networking Sites and Depression
Abstract: Facebook has been shown to be useful for social communication, but is it also associated with depression?
Title: Interpersonal Relationships after Use of an Online Social Networking Site and Problematic Internet Use
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between problematic Internet use, interpersonal relationships, and mood in a sample from the general population. Personal social networks reflect the connections between people in their daily lives. The ability to use information technology (IT) may have implications for interpersonal relationships, including the ability to form meaningful relationships.
Title: Social Networking Sites and Depression
Abstract: This study examined whether people with depression use different social networking sites (SNS) from those of the general population. The study also evaluated the moderating effects of depression severity on this relationship. A total of 1,308 participants (65% males; mean age ± SD = 21.7 ± 4.8 years) completed an online survey about their depressive symptoms, social network site use, motivations for using SNS, and frequency of participation in several activities on Facebook and MySpace. Results suggest that individuals with higher depression scores were more likely to use SNS and were more likely to use the sites for interpersonal communication than other motives. Also, people with depressive symptoms appear to be attracted to SNS because they provide a venue for social support (i.e., interpersonal communication). These findings suggest that before one decides whether or not they should join an SNS, it is important to assess their motivations as well as their depression status.
Title: The Impact of Internet Use on the Social Lives of Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Preliminary Report
Authors: Matthew W. Mosconi, Sara A. Hartley, Angelica Ronald, and William T. Powers
Source: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders , 46(11), 1770-1775
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191670012002895?via%3Dihub
Abstract: The present study examined the relationships among face-to-face (FtF) communication, Internet use as a supplement to FtF communication and social capital in a population of 7th graders (N = 514). The sample was a public school classroom in which no students demonstrated an autism spectrum disorder. Contrary to the findings of previous research, we found that FTF communication, FtF communication and Internet use were not significantly related to social capital. However, there was a significant negative relationship between Internet use as a supplement to FtF communication and social capital after controlling for normative differences between boys and girls on verbal intelligence. In contrast to past research, our results do not support the notion that FtF communication negatively affects levels of social capital.
The three big social networking sites are:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301051498000237
Abstract: We investigated how 567 young people aged 10–22 years old use the Internet and formed their mental representations of information and communication technology (ICT). Using item response theory analyses, we found that while on average, the Internet did not lead to more accurate information search, it did lead to more ways of accessing information and fewer negative experiences than face-to-face (FtF) communication forms. More importantly, when a particular mode of ICT was increased or decreased, mental representations in general tended to decrease or increase.