I can still hear it ringing in my ear every time I sit behind a computer screen “Get off that thing and go interact with Real People!”. That was my father’s reaction whenever he noticed me spending too much time on the computer. It has been more than a decade since I started growing up with the internet, and up to this day, my parents still feel that the internet makes people withdraw from society and leads them to become anti-social. That idea is not only fostered by my parents but also by a lot of people. You know what is even worse than being an internet user? To be an internet user and avid gamer!

Personally, I never bought into that argument at all, and apparently the people at PEW set out to find the truth. The results of the research have been interesting, to say the least.

Social Interaction

The numbers…

People who use the internet have been found to have a more diverse network of people whom they interact with. Internet users are 55% more likely to have a discussion partner that is not part of the family. Not surprisingly either is that internet users who blog and share photos are more likely to have a confidant (people whom they trust and confide in) of a different race and tend to interact with people from across races and political lines. That’s certainly an advantage since our comfort zone is constantly challenged and hopefully not by many trolls.

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