Study Says Net Users Stressed, Not Depressed

Stressed? It could be all that time you’re spending online.

A new study of 208 Internet users by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh finds that the more they use the Net, the more stress and hassles they have in their daily lives.

The researchers said they aren’t sure why stress levels increased. Internet users could be feeling under the gun because wading through ever-growing quantities of electronic mail leaves less time to spend with family and close friends. Or it could be the result of their frustrations with more complicated activities such as downloading digital music or playing online video games.

On the plus side, Internet use no longer appears to induce feelings of loneliness and depression. That was the controversial conclusion of a previous report from the Carnegie Mellon researchers, led by professor Robert Kraut of the Human Computer Interaction Institute.

“The previously reported negative outcomes associated with more use of the Internet had all but disappeared, except for the association with increased stress,” according to the study, which will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Social Issues.

Many Internet users and some scholars criticized the original study, which they said fed stereotypes of disaffected computer users who shut out the real world and retreated to cyberspace.

Other researchers reported that the Internet helped people feel more connected to their family and friends. A study conducted at UCLA, for example, found that Internet users were slightly less likely than nonusers to experience feelings of alienation, loneliness and powerlessness.

The new findings about stress were met with skepticism by Michael Suman, research director with UCLA’s Center for Communication and Policy, which tracks the social consequences of the Internet.

“You could say that being online makes things very efficient,” Suman said. “I was just looking for airline tickets, and I could get them in five minutes versus calling the travel agent and having them call me back. There are just as many positive experiences that lessen people’s frustrations as the other way.”