As old as the web.

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Social scientists have been studying the web pretty much from its outset. There are even those who might claim that the internet was invented by social scientists who feared that they were running out of subjects to study. One of the most popular topics that researchers tried to examine was the effect that the internet had on the social well-being of its users. I first wrote about the HomeNet study nine years ago, noting that then its finding were questioned by many critics. Since then I've found a number of opportunities to refer to it, including over six years ago when I noted that it seemed that even the people who conducted that study were no longer convinced that their findings - that internet use could be correlated to an increase in depression and loneliness - were really accurate. And they weren't the only ones. Few today seem to be making that sort of claim.

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Go to: The internet and some of its discontents.