Internet Paradox Revisited

By Robert E. Kraut, Sara B. Kiesler, Bonka Boneva, Jonathon N. Cummings, V. Helgeson, Anne M. Crawford. 2002

2,331 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Kraut et al. (1998) reported negative effects of using the Internet on social involvement and psychological well-being among new Internet users in 1995–96. We called the effects a “paradox” because participants used the Internet heavily for communication, which generally has positive effects. A 3-year follow-up of 208 of these respondents found that negative effects dissipated. We also report findings from a longitudinal survey in 1998–99 of 406 new computer and television purchasers. This sample generally experienced positive effects of using the Internet on communication, social involvement, and well-being. However, consistent with a “rich get richer” model, using the Internet predicted better outcomes for extraverts and those with more social support but worse outcomes for introverts and those with less support.

Subfields: Communication, Information Systems and Management, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/29d3ca40cc692cf09d827da5b6047f5ec70273f0

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Citations in the corpus

Participant recruitment and data collection through Facebook: the role of personality factors1 (2016, result): “The findings with respect to Extraversion in particular also appear to be inconsistent with Kraut et al.’s (2002) view that those who are more extraverted are more likely to use the Internet for social purposes, compared to their more introverted counterparts.”
Children's Internet Use in a Family Context: Influence on Family Relationships and Parental Mediation (2007, neutral): “6,11,12 Rather, it may improve family relationships, serving as another modality of interaction among family members.”
The internet as psychological laboratory. (2006, background): “Kraut et al. (2002) reported on a follow-up study of the same participants approximately two years later.”
Personality and motivations associated with Facebook use (2009, background): “For example, personality characteristics such as Introversion and Extraversion have been found to play a significant role in other online communication experiences (e.g., Butt & Phillips, 2008; Kraut et al., 2002).”
The Digital Self: How Social Media Serves as a Setting that Shapes Youth’s Emotional Experiences (2015, background): “Kraut et al. (2002) also found that extraverted young adults benefit from using the Internet in that they experience increases in self-esteem, decreases in loneliness, increased community involvement, and reduced negative affect, whereas introverted individuals experience opposite effects.”
Spatially Bounded Online Social Networks and Social Capital: The Role of Facebook (2006, background): “Of special interest to Internet researchers is the way in which Facebook use seemed to support a “poor get richer” hypothesis, as opposed to the “rich get richer” findings reported in other contexts (Kraut et al., 2002).”
Prevalence of perceived stress, symptoms of depression and sleep disturbances in relation to information and communication technology (ICT) use among young adults - an explorative prospective study (2007, background): “, 2001; Salanova, Peiro, & Scaufeli, 2002), introversion/extroversion (Kraut et al., 2002) and loneliness (Caplan, 2003; MorahanMartin & Schumacher, 2003) are concerned.”
The Relations Among Social Media Addiction, Self-Esteem, and Life Satisfaction in University Students (2017, background): “Based on the ‘‘social compensation’’ hypothesis or ‘‘the poor gets richer’’ (Kraut et al., 2001), people with low selfesteem, low life satisfaction, and who have few offline contacts compensate by using Facebook to gain more friends and more popularity (Barker, 2009; Mehdizadeh, 2010).”
The effect of social network sites on adolescents' social and academic development: Current theories and controversies (2011, background): “For example, a longitudinal follow-up to the original HomeNet study found no long-term effects of Internet use on loneliness or depression (Kraut et al., 2002).”
Internet Addiction and its Psychosocial Risks (Depression, Anxiety, Stress and Loneliness) among Iranian Adolescents and Young Adults: A Structural Equation Model in a Cross-Sectional Study (2016, background): “Kraut et al. (2002) noted that although the Internet might Table 3 Results of the MANOVA analysis for Internet addicted and non-addicted groups Value DF EF Sig.”
Online communication, compulsive Internet use, and psychosocial well-being among adolescents: a longitudinal study. (2008, background): “On the one hand, communication with the Internet could have positive consequences, for example, by increasing social support, by enabling easier connections with friends, or by facilitating the formation of new relationships (Kraut et al., 2002; Parks & Roberts, 1998).”