[Air-l] Statistics Canada - General Social Survey: The Internet andthe way we spend our time

[Ledbetter, Andrew Michael]

I'm particularly concerned by the study's operationalization of heavy Internet users as "those who spent more than one hour on the Internet during the day" for personal reasons---though I appreciate the study's attempt to at least separate personal use from work/school use, I wonder if that is really possible for a group such as students, who tend to multitask online (even beyond students, how commonly do people write an e-mail or IM while also "studying" or "at work"? How was this accounted for in the study, if at all?).
 
And I'm even more troubled by the study's seeming assumption that Internet use cannot yield satisfying and meaningful relational interaction. Since results found that most heavy users spend their time using the Internet engaged in interpersonal and group communication, and talked on the phone more, and were less stressed... might one conclude that the study's heavy users are connected, media-savvy extraverts who lead richly satisfying and stress-reducing social lives?
 
Andrew M. Ledbetter
Ph.D. Candidate and Graduate Teaching Assistant
Department of Communication Studies
University of Kansas