| This study investigated the relationship between teenagers' Internet use and their interpersonal communication behavior---most of all, whether Internet use was associated with the teens' loss of desire for face-to-face communication with family and friends. Also examined was whether any loss of desire for face-to-face communication with family and friends was linked to certain motives for going online. This study also examined (a) the relationship between Internet use and (b) loneliness and the relationship between Internet use and Internet dependency. The findings of this study were based on statistical analyses of 405 valid returns of self-administered questionnaires from 657 students of Carbondale Community High School in Carbondale, Illinois, who were selected through a purposive sampling. The results showed that Internet use was significantly correlated with decreases in face-to-face communication with family (r = -.137, p < .01) and with decreases in desire for face-to-face communication with family (r = -.120, p = .01). But Internet use was not significantly correlated with loneliness. The study also found that using the Internet out of habit was significantly correlated with decreases in desire for face-to-face communication with family (r = -.160, p < .01), and that using the Internet to escape from people and things around them was significantly correlated with decreases in desire for face-to-face communication with family (r = -.141, p < .01). Most significantly, this study found that Internet use displaces not only the time the teens spent with family, but also their desire for spending time with family. |
