Mind Final - Consequences of Loneliness for the Individual and the Group and Its Interactions with the Internet
Consequences of loneliness for the individual and the group and its interactions with the Internet
Vaibhav Varma
Loneliness, known as an individual’s perceived isolation in most scientific literature, has been and continues to be a critical subject of research due to its relevance for the psychological, medical, and sociological fields. It is generally assumed to be a product of actual social isolation and while to a degree this is true, these quantities are interrelated in a more complex fashion than simple causality. Furthermore, contrary to popular belief, the effects of loneliness extend far beyond the mental state of the suffering individual creating significant problems in one’s behavior, physiology, and social network. In light of these substantial, disease-like properties and negative consequences for group dynamics, loneliness should be thoroughly studied, especially as technology, notably the Internet, continues to develop and reform previous means of communication and socialization.
A brief aside at this point will facilitate understanding of the research presented hereon and minimize repetitive clarifications on the viability of their methodologies and evidence. Loneliness is not an easily measured quantity and knowledge of its presence and severity is by its very nature limited to the subjective evaluation of the individual experiencing it. Most research on this subject matter must thus contend with imprecision borne of this subjectivity and self-evaluation and usually relies on well-established questionnaires and large population surveys. The former allows for facile comparison of different research efforts and their results; additionally, analyses of the data collected by self-reporting on questionnaires have repeatedly shown to allow significant correlations between loneliness and other experimental variables to be discovered. The latter methodological strategy of large sample populations minimizes the imprecision of this type of data through
Vaibhav Varma
Loneliness, known as an individual’s perceived isolation in most scientific literature, has been and continues to be a critical subject of research due to its relevance for the psychological, medical, and sociological fields. It is generally assumed to be a product of actual social isolation and while to a degree this is true, these quantities are interrelated in a more complex fashion than simple causality. Furthermore, contrary to popular belief, the effects of loneliness extend far beyond the mental state of the suffering individual creating significant problems in one’s behavior, physiology, and social network. In light of these substantial, disease-like properties and negative consequences for group dynamics, loneliness should be thoroughly studied, especially as technology, notably the Internet, continues to develop and reform previous means of communication and socialization.
A brief aside at this point will facilitate understanding of the research presented hereon and minimize repetitive clarifications on the viability of their methodologies and evidence. Loneliness is not an easily measured quantity and knowledge of its presence and severity is by its very nature limited to the subjective evaluation of the individual experiencing it. Most research on this subject matter must thus contend with imprecision borne of this subjectivity and self-evaluation and usually relies on well-established questionnaires and large population surveys. The former allows for facile comparison of different research efforts and their results; additionally, analyses of the data collected by self-reporting on questionnaires have repeatedly shown to allow significant correlations between loneliness and other experimental variables to be discovered. The latter methodological strategy of large sample populations minimizes the imprecision of this type of data through
Cited: Amichai-Hamburger, Y. & Hayat, Z, (2011). The impact of the internet on the social lives of users: A representative sample from 13 countries. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(1), 585-589. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.10.009 Cacioppo, J Kim, J., LaRose, R., & Peng, W. (2009) CyberPsychology & Behavior, 12(4), 451-455. doi:10.1089/cpb.2008.0327.