Will the Web bring people closer together or drive each of us into our own private virtual worlds? Wired Americans are spending less time with friends and family, less time shopping in stores, and more time working at home after hours. More than one-third of consumers who have access to the Internet report that they are online at least 5 hours a week. Also, 60 percent of Internet users say they have reduced their television viewing, and one-third say they spend less time reading newspapers (those that still remain, as many fold due to a lack of readership and advertising revenue).

However, a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project reported that more than half of users the group surveyed feel that email actually strengthens family ties. Users reported far more off-line social contact than nonusers. 72 These results argue that people spend more time than ever with others. It’s just that they form strong relationships over the Internet instead of in person.

But the author of the first survey disagrees. As he observes, “If I go home at 6:30 in the evening and spend the whole night sending e-mail and wake up the next morning, I still haven’t talked to my wife or kids or friends. When you spend your time on the Internet, you don’t hear a human voice and you never get a hug.” 73 A follow-up study found that it works both ways: extroverts tend to make even more friends on the Web, whereas introverts feel even more cut off from the rest of the world. This has been termed the “rich get richer” model of Internet use.