Isolated By the Internet

Isolated By the Internet Becoming one of few highly regarded people having great contribution to the establishment of the internet, Clifford Stoll an astronomer and computer expert, became highly skeptical of the internet and its beneficial or perilous effect on its consumer. He clearly states throughout the passage his views on internet use becoming hazardous to its users, making his argument by displaying multiple examples of social disconnection of obsessive internet users. Renowned psychologists Robert Kraut and Vicki Lundmark performed several extensive experiments on various people, measuring deep psychological effects of severe internet use. From the collected data, on average they found that relationships do have the potential to cultivate online, but to a certain extent. According to Kraut and Lundmark, “weak” bonds were easily broken friendships with occasional communication, “deep” bonds on the other hand were strong relationships with common daily communication. Most of the connections made online, remained as “weak” connections and rarely became “deep” connections. They also found out that the more time spent on the internet, the number of “weak” relationships were more likely to increase and in return “deep” social relationships were bound to decline. A major reason as to why the internet became so popular was that it provided much people with the ability to create another identity of themselves. It offered an alter-ego, a personality that a certain person could have never achieved in real life. This provided a “false” sense of self-esteem for these people. Although they can become this confident person online, they are still the same person they always were in real life. To become confident or to obtain a new identity, the only way is to have real life social interactions. Most obsessive internet users, are found to lack major social interaction skills and