Georgia State University researcher Susan Snyder is studying the impact of Internet addiction (or PIU, Problematic Internet Use, described as >25 hours/week of non-school or -work use) on family ties. A new article finds that

College students who are addicted to the Internet report positive and negative effects on their family relationships…. 

On the plus side, these students reported their time on the Internet often improved family connectedness when they and their family were apart. However, their excessive Internet use led to increased family conflict and disconnectedness when family members were all together. And most students with PIU felt their families also overused the Internet, with parents not setting enough limits for either parent or sibling Internet use.

I’m sure there’s more to it, but until I read more, I’ll have to file this under what my mentor Riki Kuklick described as “the power of the social sciences” studies— things like detailed statistical studies of tax records that showed that— TAA-DAA!!!— incomes rose during the Industrial Revolution.

Part of me is also not sure classifying non-work and non-school use as unproblematic, but I’m not sure why.