Although technology and the Internet have taken a beating in the past for potentially limiting people's social interaction, a new study from the Pew Research Center has found that the opposite might be true.
According to a Pew Internet Personal Networks and Community survey, which polled 2,512 adults, the dawn of new technology and the Internet has not caused people to withdraw from society. In fact, the study found that "the extent of social isolation has hardly changed since 1985, contrary to concerns that the prevalence of severe isolation has tripled since then." Pew said that 6 percent of the entire U.S. adult population currently has "no one with whom they can discuss important matters or who they consider to be 'especially significant' in their life."
That said, Pew did find that Americans' "discussion networks"--a measure of people's "most important social ties"--have shrunk "by about a third since 1985" from three people to two. However, Pew found no evidence to suggest that it had anything to do with mobile phones or the Internet. In fact, the organization's study found that mobile-phone use and active Web participation yields "larger and more diverse core discussion networks."
Social media is also helping people expand their social interaction. According to Pew, those who use the Internet frequently "are much more likely to confide in someone who is of another race." Users who share photos online are more likely to discuss political topics with someone of a different party, the organization found.
Do you know your neighbor?
Frequent Web users are more likely to communicate with neighbors in person than those who don't use the Web as often, Pew found. In fact, 61 percent of respondents said that they talk to a neighbor at least once per month. The study also found that bloggers are 72 percent "more likely to belong to a local voluntary association" than those who don't blog.
Perhaps most important, Pew found that just because someone is a heavy Web user, that doesn't mean they remove themselves from traditional social activities like visiting a restaurant or hanging out at a bar on a Friday night. According to the study, Web users are "45 percent more likely to visit a cafe, 52 percent more likely to visit a library, 34 percent more likely to visit a fast-food restaurant, 69 percent more likely to visit other restaurants, and 42 percent more likely to visit a public park." Later on, the study reported that social-networking users "are 40 percent more likely to visit a bar, but 36 percent less likely to visit a religious institution."
So, next time your grandmother tells you that the Web is ruining the world, you might want to tell her to check out Pew's study. For more on these figures and many more, click here.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Apple gave up a sliver of Internet market share last month, according to preliminary figures released Sunday by Web metrics company Net Applications.
February figures from Net Applications on operating system share amid Internet use.
(Credit: Net Applications)The Mac OS had been hovering around the 10 percent mark among operating systems accessing the Web. But in its Operating System Market Share report for February, Net Applications showed the Mac OS at 9.71 percent, down from 9.93 percent in January. Meanwhile, Microsoft Windows' Internet share increased to 89.37 percent from 88.26 percent in January.
February figures from Net Applications on Windows 7 beta usage.
(Credit: Net Applications)In a separate report, Net Applications reported spikes in usage share of Windows 7--the follow-on to Windows Vista potentially due out later this year--after Microsoft released the public beta of the operating system in January. In the report, Net Applications attributed these spikes to weekend users:
Similar to Windows Vista, Windows 7 usage share is showing a pattern of being much higher on weekends than on weekdays. In contrast, Windows XP has an inverse trendline. XP's share is higher on weekdays due to Microsoft's relatively high business vs. residential share of Windows XP.This is an indication of strong interest in Windows 7, since it does not come pre-installed on a computer like Vista. Beta users are taking the time and effort to install it on their home computers, since corporations generally prohibit beta operating systems to be used in production environments.
February figures from Net Applications on mobile browsing market share.
(Credit: Net Applications)In the mobile browsing arena, Net Applications reported that it had taken its first detailed look at market share and pronounced Apple's iPhone as having a "commanding lead" with 66.61 percent of the market. But, Net Applications noted, "Android and BlackBerry are rapidly gaining market share. This does not mean that iPhone web browsing is shrinking, because the overall market is growing rapidly."
Upstart Android, which Google released in October, came in fourth with 6.15 percent, following No. 2 Java ME's 9.06 percent and No. 3 Windows Mobile's 6.91 percent.
Out of curiosity I pinged Google to see if the company would release usage numbers on the recently released themes and Labs add-ons in Gmail. The tools let users customize the Gmail experience in a number of ways, and all without the use of special browser add-ons or scripting hacks. More importantly, they let people custom tailor their e-mail experience no matter what computer they're on.
In other words, your theme and Labs add-ons can tell Google, or anyone else, a lot about why you're using the service.
While the company will not disclose the hard numbers on how many users are using each theme or Labs add-on, it did provide me with the top five most used in each category. You might find them interesting:
Themes (non-default):
1. Ocean
2. Planets
3. Mountains
4. Classic
5. Shiny
Labs:
1. Superstars
2. Pictures in chat
3. Calendar gadget
4. Attachment detector
5. Mark as read button
The planets theme is the second most popular non-default Gmail theme. Second only to the ocean one.
So what's the big takeaway here? People really enjoy nature. The earth-related themes dominate, with the classic, less blue look coming up just behind. Unsurprisingly, the terminal theme that emulates the look of a computer's command line interface, did not make the short list although I'd be interested to see how far it trails behind.
On the Labs side, the story is all about improving existing Gmail features. Superstars in particular is a response to people wanting to preserve some of the familiarity they're used to from Outlook. Stars are Gmail's equivalent of a flag in Outlook. With the Labs option activated they can be turned into red exclamation marks (or any color of star), then sorted accordingly, turning the feature into an alternate, and more visual way to manage e-mail.
Sadly missing from the top five are two of the goofier add-ons: mail goggles and old snakey. The first one keeps you from sending e-mails at odd hours without performing the virtual equivalent of a sobriety test, while the latter lets you play the classic time wasting game with a simple keyboard shortcut.
Google introduced Labs for Gmail back in early June. Since then none of the 30 add-ons has "graduated" to the main product. What's your favorite theme or Labs add-on?
Internet users are spending more time looking at content and less time communicating with others, according to an index of Nielsen/Net Rating statistics released by the Online Publishers Association (OPA).
In 2003, Internet users spent about 46 percent of their time communicating and 34 percent reading online content. Those habits seemed to have reversed in the last four years. From January to May 2007, about 47 percent of users' time was spent looking at content and 33 percent spent on communicating.
The change in media habits can be attributed to changes in technology over the last four years, according to OPA.
"The increased popularity of video is leading to more time being spent with online content," according to the OPA reports. Time spent communicating could also be less because more people are using instant messaging (IM), which is quicker than sending e-mail.
Search time also rose. In 2003 people spent 3 percent of their time searching, and for the 2007 period measured, they spent about 5 percent.
The OPA's Internet Activity Index seems to support the results of a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project that was released in May.
It said that while tech personalities do vary, only a small percentage of people are actually participating in Web 2.0 activities.
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