One of the early fears about the Internet was that it would drive us apart, turning us from groups of social creatures into antisocial units of one, isolated and focused more on our cyber lives than the things going on around us. That situation undoubtedly exists but a more prevalent and fascinating twist has been the Web’s role in helping us form and maintain vast and vibrant networks of e-based friendships and linkages.

Far from cutting us off from each other, the Internet has made possible links that likely never would have been forged. Think of the thousands of sufferers of rare diseases, who can now share the daily indignities that their conditions inflict on them, along with the tiny victories that keep them from giving up hope. On a more mundane level, consider all the hobbyists, sports fans, political junkies and other similar tribes who need only a few mouse-clicks to bond with like-minded people around the world.

Recently-released data from the Pew Internet and American Life Project confirm that the initial worries about the Web were unfounded. In examining how people use the Web and mobile phones to interact with family and friends, the Pew research found that, on average, the size of our discussion networks - those we consult about important matters - is 12 percent larger among mobile phone users, 9 percent larger for those who share photos online and 9 percent bigger for those who use instant messaging.

The level of diversity of our core networks - those we view as our closest and most significant confidants - tends to be 25 percent larger for mobile phone users and 15 percent larger for basic Internet users. The diversity is even greater for frequent Internet users, those who instant-message and sharers of digital photos online.

The survey was conducted by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, led by Keith N. Hampton, assistant professor of communication, and the Pew Internet Project. (For more info visit www.pewinternet.org.)

Examine social isolation

On a larger level, the study sought to examine social isolation in America and found that just 6 percent of the U.S. adult population claims to have no one with whom they can discuss important matters or who they consider to be “especially significant” in their life.

Rather than isolating us, mobile phone ownership and participation in a variety of Internet activities are associated with larger and more diverse core discussion networks. “There is a tendency by critics to blame technology first when social change occurs,” said Hampton in a press statement. “This is the first research that actually explores the connection between technology use and social isolation and we find the opposite. It turns out that those who use the Internet and mobile phones have notable social advantages. People use the technology to stay in touch and share information in ways that keep them socially active and connected to their communities.”

As taken from the Pew press materials, here are some of the other key findings in the Social Isolation and New Technology report:

Despite worries that Internet use limits people’s participation in their local communities, the research found that most Internet activities have little or a positive relationship to local activity. For instance, Web users are as likely as anyone else to visit with their neighbors in person. Cell phone users, those who are online frequently at work and bloggers are more likely to belong to a local voluntary association, such as a youth group or a charitable organization. However, there is some evidence that use of social networking services (e.g., Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn) substitutes for some neighborhood involvement.

While Internet use does foster social contact across vast distances, many Internet technologies are used as much for local contact as they are for distant communication.

Web use does not pull people away from public places. Rather, it’s associated with frequent visits to places such as parks, cafés and restaurants - the kinds of locales where research shows that people are likely to encounter a wider array of people and diverse points of view. Indeed, Internet access has become a common component of people’s experiences within many public spaces. For instance, of those Americans who have been in a library within the past month, 38 percent logged on to the Internet while they were there; 18 percent have done so in a café or coffee shop.

Our mobile phone use outpaces our use of landline phones as a primary method of staying in touch with our closest family and friends, but face-to-face contact still trumps all other methods. On average in a typical year, people have in-person contact with their core network ties on about 210 days; they have mobile-phone contact on 195 days of the year; landline phone contact on 125 days; text-messaging contact on the mobile phone 125 days; e-mail contact 72 days; instant-messaging contact 55 days; contact via social networking Web sites 39 days; and contact via letters or cards on eight days.

Social media activities are associated with several beneficial social activities, including having discussion networks that are more likely to contain people from different backgrounds. Frequent Internet users, for example, and those who maintain a blog are much more likely to confide in someone who is of another race. Those who share photos online are more likely to report that they discuss important matters with someone who is a member of another political party.

While participation in traditional social settings, like neighborhoods, voluntary organizations and public spaces, remains the strongest predictor for the overall diversity of people’s social networks, Internet use, and specifically use of social networking services like Facebook, is also associated with knowing more people from a wider variety of backgrounds.

“All the evidence points in one direction,” said Hampton. “People’s social worlds are enhanced by new communication technologies. It is a mistake to believe that Internet use and mobile phones plunge people into a spiral of isolation.”