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IT&SOCIETY, VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1, SUMMER 2002, PP. 166-179 …
Tags: common interests, communication information, diffusion of innovations, information library, internet use, james e katz, library studies, main themes, mobile communication, org project, political involvement, public communication campaigns, representative survey, ronald e rice, rutgers university, social aspects, social consequences, social impacts, social interaction, utopian views,Pages: 14
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IT&SOCIETY, VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1, SUMMER 2002, PP. 166-179
http://www.ITandSociety.org
PROJECT SYNTOPIA:
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF INTERNET USE
JAMES E. KATZ
RONALD E. RICE
ABSTRACT
This article provides an overview of the Syntopia Project and results from
nationally representative telephone surveys of Internet use/nonuse and social impacts
from 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2000. The main themes covered in the surveys are access,
community/political involvement, and social interaction. After a brief overview of
associations between Internet use and involvement, the article summarizes the
relationships between Internet use and nonuse, and offline and online social interaction.
Essentially, across the samples, Internet users are quite sociable--they are more
involved and socially active than nonusers. These and related results imply that neither
dystopian nor utopian views of the social consequences of the Internet are supported by
representative survey data. Rather, the results support a more syntopian perspective:
the Internet has allowed individuals and groups to find common interests, engage in
various types of exchange and create bonds of concern, support and affection that can
unite them--for both good and ill.
________________________
James E. Katz is Professor in the Department of Communication at the School of
Communication, Information & Library Studies, Rutgers University, where he studies
social uses and implications of new media, especially the Internet and mobile
communication.
Ronald E. Rice is Distinguished Professor, and Chair, in the Department of
Communication at the School of Communication, Information & Library Studies,
Rutgers University, where he studies the diffusion of innovations, social aspects of new
media, and public communication campaigns.
The authors remain indebted to Philip Aspden, now of the National Academy of Sciences, for his
pivotal role in early Syntopia Project's data collection and analysis. The authors also acknowledge
the continued and generous support of the Markle Foundation.
© 2002 by Stanford University
167
PROJECT SYNTOPIA KATZ & RICE
The diminutive computer mouse has roared, affecting the communication
and social behaviors of millions of people. However, as this inaugural issue of
IT&Society attests, social scientists and their plethora of sponsors (including the
National Science Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Department of
Commerce and market survey firms among many others) are only now beginning to
be able to identify what have been the consequences for American society in this sea
change in public communication patterns.
Part of the reason for undertaking research are the many arguments from
this wealth of research that either the Internet is harmful or that it has unleashed
a revolutionary liberating force. There is concern first about the accuracy of both of
these dystopian and utopian views, and second about the consequences of accepting
an overly negative or positive view of the Internet--if indeed those views are
wrong.
The view here is that neither perspective is correct. The little computer
mouse--hooked to a keyboard and CPU and linked with vast networks, servers and
other infrastructure--has acted to weave a rich tapestry of friendship, personal
information, and community among people of all nations, orientations, ethnic
groups and classes. In a manner not unlike that of Adam Smith's invisible hand of
the marketplace, the sum of the mouse movements and keyboard clicks (and
increasingly voice and video streams) has allowed individuals and groups to find
common interests, engage in various types of exchange and create bonds of concern,
support and affection that can unite them.
The "invisible mouse tracks" have led around the world, creating electronic
and emotional strands among people and their software representations. The result
is an intricate tapestry of individuals engaging in what they already do in other
arenas, for good or bad, while expanding possibilities for new kinds of thought,
interaction and action. Wishing to propose a perspective on these emerging
consequences, this view is referred to as "syntopia."
PROJECT SYNTOPIA
Searching for support to do a systematic study of the social and psychological
differences of those who found themselves on the Internet versus those who were
not began in the early 1990s. Unlike the situation today, however, no funding
agencies seemed to think this was a worthwhile endeavor. Fortunately, in 1994 the
Markle Foundation agreed to expand some of its interests in universal email to look
at the factors that kept people off the Internet, as well as those that keep them on.
From that springboard came the earliest rigorous national surveys of Internet usage
and consequences, whose joint aim has been to create a multi-year program charting
social aspects of Americans' behavior on and off line that has fielded surveys in
1995, 1996, 1997 and 2000.
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PROJECT SYNTOPIA KATZ & RICE
These surveys appear to have been the first to
· use national random telephone survey methods to track social and
community aspects of Internet use,
· compare users and nonusers,
· identify and analyze Internet dropouts, and
· identify and analyze those still unaware of the Internet as opposed to
aware nonusers.
The name "syntopia" was chosen for the project, first, because of a wide array
of emerging communication technologies--including not only the Internet but also
the mobile phone and related technologies of the many media people use for social
interaction (Katz, forthcoming). Second, an exclusive focus on the online world can
be misleading. People do have a physical embodiment, and their physical and social
situation and their history influence their actions online. Likewise, what they learn
and do online spills over to their real world experiences, and the term deliberately
underscores this synergy across media and between mediated and unmediated
activities. Third, the term syntopia draws together the words "syn" and "utopia."
Derived from ancient Greek, the word means literally "together place," which is a
way to see the Internet and associated mobile communication--and their interaction
with unmediated interpersonal and community relations.
The term syntopia invokes both utopian and dystopian visions of what the
Internet does and could mean. At the same time, it brings these two visions together
symbolically and, perhaps not so subtly, also alludes to the Internet's dark side in
the homophone "sin." Other nominal connections are "synthetic" and "syntheses," all
of which are appropriately evocative, and also fit with the project results to date.
The Internet and other new media are places for people to interact, express
themselves, emote and find new friends. It is also a place in which people seek to
hurt, cheat and exploit others. Project Syntopia aims to identify what these
activities mean for issues ranging from access to information resources and human
capital, to social and community involvement, to friendship formation and online
forms of expression.
Consider, for example, the syntopian uses of communication technologies in
response to the tragedy surrounding the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the
United States. The mobile phone and the Internet were understandably central to
people's communication activities as the grotesque plot unfolded. Mobile phones
were used to relay what was happening aboard the hijacked airliners, alerting
passengers on one flight (United Airlines Flight 93) of the hijackers' intended
suicide mission. Mobile phones were also used to call for help and to let friends and
relatives know what was happening--and say their final words of love--as the
disaster cascaded. Emergency workers, victims and families coordinated and
informed themselves (Katz and Rice forthcoming). Of course, the voice networks
were heavily overloaded, but two-way pagers and data networks were able to keep
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PROJECT SYNTOPIA KATZ & RICE
up with the demand. Mobile phones clearly saved lives as they were used to tell
people in the stricken buildings to evacuate immediately.
In a sick hoax, though, some people used their mobile phones to call
emergency services pretending to be trapped. Phones, both mobile and stationary,
were also used to make false bomb threats to federal buildings, synagogues and
mosques. In several of these cases, caller-ID technology was used to catch
perpetrators, allowing authorities to relieve fears (Case 2000; Harden 2001; Katz
1999). Thus, syntopian technologies are plastic, in that they can be employed for
help or harm, information or disinformation, as the persons participating in the
communication see fit.
PROJECT THEMES
The rise of the Internet has brought with it some important questions about
how this new form of communication might be affecting society. Project Syntopia
has considered fundamental tensions or opposed positions about the consequences
of the Internet in three areas: the digital divide, community and political
involvement, and social interaction.
The first fundamental concern of access, including who has/does not have
access to the Internet, what motivates people to use the Internet, what barriers
there are to usage, and what characterizes those who stop using the Internet has
been covered in Katz and Aspden (1997a, b, c); Rice, McCreadie and Chang (2001).
These "digital divide" issues will be covered in an upcoming issue of IT&Society.
The second fundamental tension is whether the Internet will decrease
community involvement and political participation and integration (Kraut et al.
1998; Selnow 1994), or whether it will foster diverse mediated communities with
greater social capital. Concerns about the decline of community expressed two
hundred years ago (by Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams)
often seem little different than those expressed continually since World War II
(Merton 1957; Putnam 1996).
A major component of this lively debate has been the question of the impact
of communication technology on these community, political and social processes
(Carpini 1996; Pool 1983; Putnam 1996; Rash 1997; Starobin 1996; Symposium
1995; Van Alstyne 1995; White 1997). For example, the Internet may very well
foster political involvement: "Life in cyberspace seems to be shaping up exactly like
Thomas Jefferson would have wanted: founded on the primacy of individual liberty
and a commitment to pluralism, diversity, and community" (Kapor 1993, p. 53).
The third concern is whether and how the Internet will affect expression,
new forms of identity and social interaction (Baron 1984; Gergen 1991; Hiltz and
Turoff 1995; Kiesler, Siegel and McGuire 1984; Parks and Floyd 1996; Wynn and
Katz 1997). Can online social activity and creativity translate into meaningful
friendships and relationships? The first school of thought holds that computer-
mediated communication technology is too inherently antithetical to the nature of
human life for meaningful relationships to form (Stoll 1995). To type is not to be
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PROJECT SYNTOPIA KATZ & RICE
human, to be in cyberspace is not to be real; all is pretense and alienation, a poor
substitute for the real thing (Baudrillard 1983; Beniger 1987; Numes 1995). So
much posturing, "gender-switching" and faking of identities can take place that it
is extremely difficult for any real relationships to be created and maintained
(Turkle 1996).
However, a second school of thought increasingly sees the Internet as a
medium that facilitates social interaction (Rheingold 1993; Rice 1987a, 1987b).
This work has been complemented by research on the functioning of medical
discussion lists and newsgroups, health and psychological support groups, Internet
Relay Chats, instant messaging, Multi-User Dungeons, Object-Oriented MUDs,
and even online dating services. All of these are essentially social and oriented
toward affect instead of task (Aspden and Katz 2001; Rice 2001). Baym (1995, p.
160) summarizes a decade of research as revealing that "the ways in which people
have appropriated the commercial and noncommercial networks demonstrate that
CMC not only lends itself to social uses but is, in fact, a site for an unusual amount
of social creativity."
DATA SOURCES
The data summarized here, as well as detailed in various reports from the
overall programmatic research (see Katz and Rice 2001, 2002), came from a series
of national probability telephone surveys, all designed by the authors but
administered by commercial survey firms. Table 1 summarizes the sample sizes
and adoption/usage percentages for each of the four years.1
The following sections summarize results for the primary issues of
community involvement, and social interaction/expression. Results from the 1996
survey are used to summarize the relation between Internet use and political
involvement; and results from the 1995 and 2000 surveys to summarize
relationships between Internet use and community involvement, social interaction,
and new forms of expression. Appendix A provides the wording of the survey
questions that are analyzed in this article (a subset of all the items on these
surveys).
All network probability samples were conducted by telephone. Note that,
while the 1996 and 1997 samples were augmented with a sample of additional
Internet users, population estimates of usage are only from the initial,
unaugmented samples. In comparing relative distributions, however, the combined
samples give more accurate statistical estimates. Internet dropouts--people who
have used the Internet, but no longer do so--are usually overlooked in discussions
about cyberspace (Katz and Aspden 1998). Approximately 8 percent of respondents
were dropouts in 1995, 11 percent in 1996, 10 percent in 1997 and 11.5 percent in
2000. In 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2000, dropouts were significantly younger, less
affluent, and less well educated than users--but not more likely to be female or
African-American.
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PROJECT SYNTOPIA KATZ & RICE
TABLE 1: SUMMARY SAMPLE SIZE AND USAGE STATISTICS
Variable Oct. 1995 Nov. 1996 Nov. 1997 Mar. 2000
Sample N 2500 557 2148 1305
Users 8.1% 18.8% 30.1% 59.7%
Former Users 7.8% 11.5% 9.8% 10.5%
(percent of ever used) (49%) (38%) (25%) (15%)
Not Users 84.3% 69.9% 60.1% 29.7%
Supplemental Users Sample ---- 450 153 ----
RESULTS
A. COMMUNITY AND POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT
Initial Project Syntopia reports (Katz and Aspden 1997b; 1997c) found that
the Internet did not increase social isolation. Rather, it was a source of civic
organizational involvement and new personal friendships. A subsequent study of
users in Pittsburgh, which suggested that heavy Internet use might lead to
depression and isolation, received prominent national media attention (Kraut et al.
1998). That article expressed numerous reservations about the findings, and the
situation became even cloudier when Nie and Erbring (2000) also concluded that
the Internet harms social cohesion and interaction. However, the UCLA (Cole
2000) and the Pew Internet and American Life Project (Rainie and Kohut 2000)
seemed to confirm the Project Syntopia 1995 findings. When, in 2002, the
Carnegie-Mellon team in Pittsburgh was not able to find further evidence of their
Internet paradox (that is, a social technology that made people lonely), the original
conclusions from Project Syntopia were sustained. As summarized next, later
surveys supported these earlier results.
Involvement in Organizations: There was no difference between Internet
users and nonusers in rate of membership in religious organizations, in either 1995
(about 63%) or 2000 (about 56%). However, in 2000, users who spent more hours
online per week were slightly more likely to belong to more religious organizations
(r=.07, p20)
a) Religious (e.g., church or synagogue member)
b) Leisure (e.g., hiking, biking, bowling or tennis club)
c) Community (e.g., Lions club or volunteer for political cause)
Ib. Political Involvement
2. In following the 1996 political campaign how would you rate the importance to
you of each of the following (1=high importance to 4=no importance):
a) News or opinion magazines
b) Newspapers
c) Television
d) National and local TV shows
3. I am going to ask you about some political activities and whether you did any of
them in the past year (Y/N).
a) Attend any political rallies?
b) Make phone calls on behalf of candidates?
c) Give money to a political cause, committee or campaign?
d) Write/fax letters to elected officials?
4. Thinking back over the period since the beginning of October, in terms of your
online activities and the 1996 election campaign, did you (Y/N):
a) Read any bulletin board posting or discussion groups about the campaign or
elections?
b) Did you have any email exchanges or chat room discussions or postings with
friends or family about the 1996 political campaign and election?
c) Receive any email about the campaign or elections?
d) Send or receive any email from a government official, candidate for office, or
political campaign committee?
e) Send any email to others about the campaign or elections?
f) Visit any web sites with political campaign-related information?
g) Did you follow any part of the election by reading news online?
h) Did you follow the voting on election day from your computer?
i) Did you view information online about the election after it was over?
j) Have you read information online or received email about the impact of the
election?
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PROJECT SYNTOPIA KATZ & RICE
IIa. Social Interaction
1. In the last week, about how many times did you get together with friends?
_______
2. Do you strongly agree (1) , agree, disagree, or strongly disagree (5) with the
following statement: In your social life you're frequently away from home.
3. Of the ten people living closest to your home, how many do you personally know?
4. In the last week, how many times did you contact people using the following
forms of communication, outside of work? (that is, sending, not receiving) (0; 1-4; 5-
9; 10-19; >20)
a) Letters
b) Phone calls
II b. New Forms of Expression
1. Do you consider yourself to be a member of an Internet community or
communities? (Y/N)
2. Have you ever contacted family members over the Internet? (Never; Once or
twice; Several times a year; Several times a month; Several times a week or more)
3. Which statement best describes the amount of time you spend with friends and
family face-to-face or by phone since you started using the Internet? (I spend less
time; It hasn't changed; Now I spend more time with friends and family offline)
4. Do you know people only through the Internet that you consider to be your
friends? (Y/N)
5. Have you ever met any of these people in person? (Y/N)
6. Have you ever met someone online only and then gone on to meet them in
person? (Y/N)
ENDNOTES
1 Some, but by no means all, public opinion surveys use weighting post hoc to compensate
for nonresponse bias or ineffective sampling frames. However, many other statisticians
express deep concern about applying weighting procedures to correct problems of this
nature. They view weighting as highly susceptible to serious (and difficult to detect) errors.
These statisticians include Kalton, Zieschang and Kish. Data are not weighted because of
concerns raised by these authors. Since most analyses test for significant effects of a wide
set of demographic variables, so some biases are controlled for statistically.
IT&SOCIETY, Vol. 1, Issue 1, Summer 2002 http://www.ITandSociety.org