A revealing study on this topic came out recently on the NYT. This is something I have been wondering about for years. Why are rates of depression soaring among young people? Face to face human communication, as opposed to communication with pixels (not communication with pixies, you could get in bigger trouble with that), seem to involve many dimensions (body language etc) that makes the communication much more profound. But we still don’t know if depressed people spend too many hours on screen, or if spending too many hours on screen makes you more depressed. I suspect it is both. One personal rule of thumb: To feel happier, IM is better than email, SKYPE or phones are better than IM, and old fashioned schmoozing beats anything. That seems to be a top correlate of happiness.
Hmmm. I will now put down my keyboard and call my Mum.
See the latest report from the NYT at https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/does-technology-affect-happiness/
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