Internet Users are More Depressed Than Others! Who’s the Culprit, Internet or Depression?

While services like Facebook and Twitter attract millions of users for their social friendly concepts and secure millions in funding there are enough research and studies being carried out which suggest users who spend a lot of time online are lonely, depressed or socially disabled.

One of the first reports I ever read about internet and depression was in the year 1998 when Internet was a luxury and a single hour of internet use, used to cost couple Rs.100.

Back then, Carnegie Mellon University concluded its two-year long study on the social and psychological effects of Internet use at home by stating that the internet encourages meaningless and virtual relationships which lead to an overall decline in real feelings of connection with other human beings. That was then.

After questioning and examining 1,319 people aged between 16 and 51 the latest study concluded by stating “The longer people spent online the more depressed they tended to be”.

Report also states that in the process of examining people involved in the research, they came across 5 “hard-core” internet users whose depression level was 5 times higher as the time they spent on the internet was significantly higher too. And Yea, did I mention these 5 “Internet addicts” spent a lot of time surfing porn and gaming site? Yea, they did and their average age is 21.

One thing this research couldn’t be sure of was if it was internet because of which these people were depressed or was it depression that was driving them away from their social life and towards the online virtual life.

In another research published by Nielsen suggests that close to 84% of the of the internet users who watch TV programming online, prefer watching it alone!

While many of us may watch TV with friends or family members, the viewing of TV shows online proves to be a rather solitary activity. This may change as internet connectivity to our main TV screens becomes more ubiquitous, but right now, the majority of online viewers prefer to be alone. – Nielsen

I just hope those 5 “hard-core” internet users were not a part of the research conducted by Nielsen, if so, that would explain why they watch video content all alone

On a serious note, I think it’s completely illogical to conduct such studies and single out one particular profession or business. With the growing complex lives of a regular human being its natural to find individual who lose balance of life and go into depression.

Ironically, Internet, where secrecy and personal space is an illusion, people tend to take refuge here to create more personal space in real life which most often results in social disabilities.

It is important to maintain a balance between work and social engagements especially for people who work from home and run businesses or earn their livelihood through online sources.

image source: psychcentral.com