Introduction

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to identify and examine how on-line activities (Internet, America Online) are impacting the lives of on-line subscribers. To that end, a survey of America Online (AOL) subscribers was conducted in 1998 and 1999 to determine how on-line is being used and how the participants believed on-line was impacting their lives. Additional information for this study was obtained from various web sites appearing on the Internet about the on-line world and from other publications, most notably the book, Caught in the Net, written by Doctor Kimberly S. Young who has done considerable work in the area of Internet addictions. Accordingly, this report summarizes the America Online survey and presents conclusions about the impacts of on-line based on the results of the survey and other information obtained about the behavioral impacts of the Internet.

It should be noted that this report does not attempt to prove any hypotheses about on-line and its impacts. Rather, it is a compilation of information and conclusions about the non-technical aspects of the on-line intended to shed light on the many questions and misinformation that users and non-users have about this cyberspace world.

Background

My experience with online began in July, 1997. At that time, I decided to try out America Online using free software that I had received through the mail. My motives for taking a look at on-line were based primarily on curiosity. I had been a computer programmer, systems analyst and project manager for many years but I knew almost nothing about the Internet at that time. However I had heard many rumors about what the Internet is, how it works and what people thought about it. I decided to find out for myself what this new cyberworld is all about. My wife's initial encouragement to try out America Online provided additional incentive to satisfy my curiosity (she regretted this later, as one might surmise).

From the beginning, most of my activities on-line pertained to chat activities encompassing chat rooms and Instant Messages. Within a couple of weeks of the inception of my America Online contract, I became highly enchanted with the chat rooms because they enabled me to forget about some of the less pleasant things that were happening in my life, the widespread feeling of acceptance I experienced in the chat rooms, and the golden opportunity it provided to make new friends. The amount of hours per month that I spent on-line grew from about 30 hours in the first month to a maximum of 150 hours two years later, after my wife and I had parted company (due, in part, to our disagreements about my use of on-line). Much of this increase in time is accounted for by the fact that beginning in my second year of use, I began to develop web sites which became a major part of the the job I hold today in a large financial company. Thus, what started out as an exercise to satisfy my curiosity evolved into my occupation and a borderline obsession that placed considerable pressure on my marriage which was already less than fully healthy. Yet, in retrospect, despite this downside, I continued to believe, as I do now, that the benefits of using on-line outweighed the adverse impacts on my life.

Although my direct on-line experience answered many of my questions, it evoked more questions than it answered. For example, do addictions to on-line truly exist, or are people who use on-line heavily simply caught up temporarily in the novelty and breadth of this technology? Can people really become addicted to the Internet or are they addicted to the activities that this technology allows them to access? To what extent are marriages occurring between people who have met on the Internet? Stories about on-line adversely impacting marriages and other intimate relationships are abundant, but how often is this really occurring and is it happening any more often on-line than it is in the face-to-face world? Along these same lines, does the Internet truly damage these relationships or are extra-curricular cyberaffairs merely symptoms of committed relationships that are weak to begin with? What characteristics of the Internet attract it to the on-line predators that we hear so much about in the media? Are the friendships that form on the Internet real and substantive, or are they little more than social games played by imaginative and/or lonely people? How much do people really use the Internet? What is cybersex and what are on-line subscriber's attitudes toward it? Where do people spend most of their time on the Internet? This study was conducted to answer these and many other questions that arose as I continued to explore the on-line world and to help put my own experiences with on-line into a broader perspective. It is hoped that this study will at least be a first step for other users or their families who are struggling to put the Internet into a more meaningful frame of reference.

My most noteworthy previous accomplishment in conducting formal studies was my research paper, Upward Mobility of Women and Minorities, which was published and received highest honors at the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University in 1977.

Acknowledgements

I would like to express a word of thanks to the many people who participated in the survey of America Online users that forms part of the foundation for this study . . . your input has been priceless. Thanks also to my on-line friends whose continued encouragement and perceptions provided much incentive for completing this work.

Disclaimer

Although this study was based in part on a survey of American Online subscribers, management and employees of America Online nor any other on-line entity did not participate in or influence the outcome of this study.