A recent study on Internet use concluded that the increasing amount of time that Americans spend online is resulting in less interaction with their fellow human beings. So the Business Journal asks:

Have we become more isolated because of the Internet?

Cristina Carnabatu

Associate Architect

Leo A. Daly

I don’t have the Internet at home but I’m addicted to it at the office. There is just so much information. I think it’s a great tool but we need to try and control it so it doesn’t take over our lives. We rely too much on e-mail, and direct communication can get sacrificed. Instead of walking over and talking to a person, it’s easier to send an e-mail. You’re talking to a machine instead of a person. But it’s not bad, it’s just different. I don’t think we can expect to have the same life as we did two generations ago.

Joseph Reed

Branch Manager

Countrywide Home Loans

I feel strongly that it does have an isolating effect. My mother is totally addicted to the Internet. We’re talking about a person who has two phone lines so she won’t be interrupted when she’s online. It’s to the point where it’s a substitute for going out and interacting with people. A computer is not going to talk back to you there’s no risk. Part of the lure is information. There’s such a plethora out there that people can go deeper and deeper through links, and time just flies by. The more information you get, the more you want. I have it at home myself, but I go online maybe once a week.

Dalton Robertson

Founder

Robertson + Associates

I think we’re definitely more isolated. Technology allows us to communicate on a more impersonal level, so we become less involved with our colleagues and clients. It keeps us from sitting down and meeting face to face about anything. What’s lost is our freedom. Clients demand immediate responses now, because the technology is there. And as Americans, we now work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Even when you check into a hotel room when you’re traveling, the first thing many guests do is plug in their laptop and check their e-mail for the next few hours of work they have to do.

Lauren Kim

Administrator

Click2Asia.com

I work for an Internet company, so I’m always surfing the Net. I’m still very socially active. I think the Web connects me more to what’s going on. Of course, the Internet is so developed that you can do almost everything online, but there are always times when you need to speak to a person, on the phone or in person. I do think that e-mail is colder than talking, the emotions aren’t there. But it’s just another way of communicating. It’s a personality thing as to whether you become isolated. I don’t view the Internet as a substitute for human interaction.

David Bishop

President

MGM Home

Entertainment

People who are predisposed to being reclusive use the Internet the same way they would watch more television or rent movies in the past. I think it’s just another option for people who are by nature more introverted. On the other side, I think it can be a wonderful tool for people who are more sociable, since people can communicate more with e-mail. In my own home, my wife and I now have more dialogue with people on the East Coast with whom it would be hard to talk to on the phone because of conflicting schedules and the time difference.

Brian Sanda

Designer/Programmer

Digital Corporate Profiles

I have mixed feelings about the Internet. I like it because it provides easy access to services like ordering flowers or movie tickets. I think it provides so many things from the outside world that it’s easy to become enveloped. I know people you can barely pull away from their e-mail. I’m online all day because I work on it, so I’m aware of its traps. When I’m at home I don’t touch it. It doesn’t substitute for my social activities.