Internet Use and Its Negative Impact on Social Life

The Internet is the latest in a chain of technological discovery in interpersonal communication. Its evolution has become a natural, background part of our life. It has changed the essence of people’s interaction with others in social world due to its easy access (Tylor, 2002). Like a telephone or telegraph, internet made connections among far-off people possible without any physical contiguity. Despite all of the effective and positive consequences in people’s everyday life, the internet also carries its negative effect. The excessive use of the internet can inhibit sociability (Nie & Hillygus, 2002) and negatively impact our social life. 

Internet use has constituted a shift in our time’s allocation. The most frequent protest about technology and the internet is that it is a time-waster that affects productivity and quality of life. The more time we spend in front of our computer, “surfing” through the internet, the less time we have to spend with our family and friends. There are only 24 hours in a day, we must often compensate time spent on one activity against another activity. As Nie & Hillygus (2002) conveyed that time we spent online essentially emulates face-to-face interaction (socially) instead of integrating with it (Nie & Hillygus, 2020), we can say that disrupted time allocation due to the excessive internet use will make us have a shortfall in social interaction. 

Lack of social interaction can lead us to loneliness up to depression. There’s no social effects of the internet that have been more controversial than its effect on close relationship with family and friends (Bargh & Mckenna, 2004). Omitting the relationship between families, friends or even neighbors is one of the negative fallout from an exorbitant internet use for the individual users. Along these lines, we can convey that people who have been exposed to excessive internet use, which definitely have turned into an addiction, tend to isolate themself from the outside world.  Depression can be the cause and the consequence of self-isolating as Elmer & Standfeld (2020) stated in their hypothesis that depressive symptoms are identified with less social interaction. 

Therefore, It will also affect our competence in face-to-face communication. There must be a different approach or procedure in communicating through online media and communicating in person. Elmer & Standfeld (2020) stated that social isolation which renders a symptom of depression also go along with a change of social skills and motivation to maintain friendships or relationships. It is considered to be a bad communication experience, with the cutback of available social intimating ensuing in a greater sense of anonymity. This can undermine our competence in traditional face-to-face communication. 

In summary, it is clear that the internet not only carries a positive impact despite its sophistication. Spending too much time on the internet can affect our sociability. Excessive use of the internet has created a shift in people’s time allocation, causing us to ignore our close relationship between families and friends. This matter will also lead us to several mental health problems, which is depression and loneliness due to a tendency to isolate ourselves. Our competence in braiding communication with people surrounding us can also be affected. However, to avoid these negative consequences, the best thing we can do is to have a good time management and schedule between your time on the internet and other offline activities. 

References

Bargh JA, McKenna KY. (2004) The Internet and Social Life. Annu Rev Psychol. 2004;55:573-90. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141922. PMID: 14744227.

Nie NH, Hillygus S. (2002) The Impact of Internet Use on Sociability. Time-Diary Findings." IT&Society. 1.1 (Summer 2002): 1-20. <http://www.ITandSociety.org>.

Tyler, T. R. (2002). Is the Internet changing social life? It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same. Journal of Social Issues, 58, 195-205. doi:10.1111/1540-4560.00256

Elmer, T., Stadtfeld, C. (2020) Depressive symptoms are associated with social isolation in face-to-face interaction networks. Sci Rep 10, 1444 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58297-9