Untitled - socium.ge

238 Manuel Castells et al.friends and family members in their network in comparison with non-users.We also investigated the effects on personal psychology after one year ofInternet use, compared with the evolution of non-users during the same year.Catalans appear to be a very emotionally stable lot: when asked if they feltdepressed or more isolated than one year earlier, 85 percent of our samplereported no change in sociability, and 79 percent reported that they were notmore or less depressed. But among the minority that felt more isolated andmore depressed, the non-users had a higher frequency than the users of theInternet. The only significant change among users of the Internet was a higherproportion than among non-users of the experience of stress: 31.5 percent ofusers versus 20.3 percent of non-users. Thus, the use of the Internet does seemto be related to a higher level of intensity in people’s life, but not at theexpense of isolation or depression.Indeed, among Internet users, time spent in conversations with the familyand being with the children increased over the preceding year in a higherproportion than among non-users. Here, again, the intensity associated withthe Internet seems to take a toll not on real interaction with family andfriends, but in relation to the perception of non-availability for the family: asmall minority (6.4 percent) of Internet users are faced with complaints fromthe family about their activity, in a much higher proportion than among nonusers.So, overall, the Internet does have a small effect of increasing sociabilityand reducing feelings of isolation, in the context of a population thatdoes not need the Internet to relate to family, friends, and neighbors and that,as a result of their full social life, does not use the Internet much for thispurpose.However, we have observed a rapid rise in the practice of Internet chatsamong the younger population, particularly in the 15–19-year age group. Itmay well be the harbinger of a new kind of networked sociability, connectingonline and off-line in people’s lives, in accordance with observed patterns inother countries. Yet, the intensity of social life in the street, in cafés, in publicplaces, and the quasi-universal use of the cell phone by the younger populationto arrange their meetings on the move, and to keep in touch, seem toemphasize the specificity of the pattern of sociability in Catalonia. Andbeyond Catalonia, it would be wise not to extrapolate on patterns of sociabilityfrom the early studies of the Internet, dealing mainly with the puritancultures of Northern Europe and North America and with the geographicallymobile populations of the United States and Canada. Indeed, these culturesand practices have made the Internet a privileged medium of communicationto maintain ties at a distance because they are more geographically mobile andhave less dense networks of family and friends. The history and culture ofeach society shape the actual uses of the Internet, thus specifiying the networksociety.