The Pew Internet and American Life Project has released its report on Internet-based socialization. The conclusions in The Future of Online Socialization segment of the survey are positive.
The online world, according to most of the Internet specialists surveyed, is going to add to the texture and mood of social interactions, not detract from them.
Of the nearly 900 “technology stakeholders and critics” who responded to the opt-in survey 85% believe the effects of the online world will remain positive for the next decade.
“The social benefits of Internet use will far outweigh the negatives over the next decade, according to experts. They say this is because email, social networks, and other online tools offer ‘low friction’ opportunities to create, enhance, and rediscover social ties that make a difference in people’s lives. The internet lowers traditional communications constraints of cost, geography, and time; and it supports the type of open information sharing that brings people together.”
You have to wonder if this rosy assessment of the online world would hold if it were 900 people outside of tech who were surveyed.
