Yahoo! Internet Life Debunks Recent Studies On Net Addiction And Depression

Market Wire, 20050229

The last few months several new studies have claimed that the Internet will cause the decline of modern society and leave us all lonely and wired to our computers. Austin Bunn examines the studies and their methodologies and learns that this is just the latest example of technology phobia - part of a long line of paranoia that goes back to the invention of the wheel.

"Suddenly, surfing the Internet seemed to have a karmic comeuppance - e-strangement.""Nothing - except maybe hard drugs and nuclear radiation - produces these kinds of negative side effects. The Net, the studies want you to believe, is causing an epidemic of bad mojo." "The first problem with the Stanford and HomeNet studies... is that they may have prejudiced their pool of subjects." "Relationships conducted online, argue pundits like Salon.com's Scott Rosenberg, are no less real than relationships conducted in person, on the phone, or by letter. They can even be deeper and richer than the relationships we have with our neighbors or pals in the next cube." Page 100

One Large Order of Napster, Please. Hold the Metallica The great Napster debate of 2000 has galvanized musicians firmly on one side of the fence or the other. But are sites like Napster and MP3.com a fleeting fad or a full-blown phenomenon? To get the low-down on the download, Yahoo! Internet Life sent intrepid reporter Josh Robertson into the enticing lair of Napster. His report:

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"Remembering the first time you used Napster is like remembering your first kiss. It's a quantum moment that surpasses your experience to that point and takes your understanding of the world to a new level." "And this was when I learned the terrible, terrible secret of Napster..." "And as you plunge deeper into addiction, the things you do for hard disk space become more and more depraved." "I don't doubt that the music will be out there, and free, for those who are savvy enough to find it. I just doubt that it will ever again be this easy." Page 110

Jesse Jackson Jr. on the Digital and Congressional Divide As the son of the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Jesse Jackson Jr. is no stranger to fighting for causes. Now a congressman from Illinois, Jackson discusses his vision for a more perfect wired union. Jackson charges:

The digital divide: "The divide has to be looked at in two categories. One is the infrastructural divide, which has everything to do with wiring our schools... And then there's the huge education divide. ...one young African-American was approached during [an] interview and asked if he wanted a computer. He said, 'What do I need a computer for?' Even here on Capitol Hill, there's still a great divide. Most members of Congress still relegate the Internet to the lowest-paid person on their staff. ...the digital divide is not just occurring in the broader American public; it's also occurring among our leadership." Kozmo.com allegedly not delivering to black neighborhoods: "The combination of class and caste are part of the American experience. With class, businesspeople target the top of the income scale - where the money is. With caste, institutional racism (not always personal racism) makes the assumption that blacks don't have money to spend on the Internet, or they just ignore blacks with money. That seems irrational and uneconomic, but racism is irrational and uneconomic." Page 90

Pseudo TV - Hope or Hype? As the era of broadband Internet access approaches, will TV "stations" such as Pseudo change the way we watch the boob tube? Charles Platt takes a critical look at the current leader in Net television. "The ultralow cost of distributing net video has encouraged upstarts like Pseudo to chase multiple niche audiences - like cable television, only cheaper." "This remains [Bohrman's] central focus - defining a totally new medium before anyone else gets there." "Pseudo could turn out to be a failed ego trip taken by a bunch of kids burning through other people's money." "This April, Pseudo's relationship with sponsors became even more intimate... If Pseudo takes this path, it leads only a short distance to the Home Shopping Network." Page 104

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Also in the July Issue... Yahoo! Internet Life names the 50 Most Incredibly Useful Sites for 2000. Sure, eBay's on the list, but many others are quite unexpected. In fact, three-fourths of the sites are new to the list. Page 116 "Begging used to be down and dirty. Now, for cyber do-nothings, it's online, clean and fun." Jeremy Caplan's story on cyber-begging includes a do-it-yourself guide to bag the big bucks. Page 126 In an interview with new virtual talk-show host Robin Williams, the comedian reveals: "Since censorship is thus far negligible, you can put up a warning and you're pretty much open to anything." Page 60

INTERVIEWS WITH ANY OF THE EDITORS OR AUTHORS AT YAHOO! INTERNET LIFE MAGAZINE PLEASE CONTACT DIANE STEFANI, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC RELATIONS, AT 212-503-4773 OR AT DIANE_STEFANI@ZIFFDAVIS.COM