What type of Internet use leads to depression and loneliness? This month, TCU communication professor Andrew Ledbetter (with Clemson University colleague Joseph Mazer) published an article in Southern Communication Journal addressing this important question.

Previous research has found that compulsive Internet use (CIU), or the inability to control, reduce, or stop online behavior, may produce negative outcomes such as depression, loneliness, and limited face-to-face contacts. Ledbetter and Mazer’s article explores how specific online communication attitudes—such as individuals’ tendency for online self-disclosure, online social connection, and online anxiety—predicted their compulsive Internet use and, in turn, poor well being.

Mazer and Ledbetter found that an individual’s tendency for online self- disclosure and online social connection led them to use the Internet in more compulsive ways. But importantly, the findings from Mazer and Ledbetter’s study are not entirely consistent previous studies: Whereas prior research frames online communication as a safe activity for the socially anxious to escape their communication anxiety, Mazer and Ledbetter found that compulsive users also experience anxiety when communicating online. This suggests that researchers may need to adjust their theoretical image of the compulsive user.

In contrast to CIU, excessive Internet use (EIU) refers to lengthy time online, but not necessarily a lack of control regarding Internet use. Ledbetter and Mazer found that excessive users may have a more realistic perception of online communication as convenient but sometimes limited by the lack of social cues available when face-to-face. In other words, according to Mazer and Ledbetter’s study, individuals’ anxiety motivates CIU, while efficiency seems to motivate EIU. Unlike CIU, EIU was not associated with poor well-being outcomes in the study.

Without question, social networking sites function as one of the most popular venues for interpersonal communication, especially among younger users. This research illuminates processes that may determine whether use of social networking sites is psychosocially beneficial or harmful for the user.