"A recent story on the front page of the New York Times caused deep conversation in our office. The story covered a recent study reporting that surfing the Internet causes increased depression. A two-year study found that one Internet hour per week made participants one percent more depressed. In addition, their circle of friends shrank by an average of 2.7 people.

Without commenting on the validity of the study, it did get a few of us chuckling and a few worrying. If I were to apply this to my own internet usage, I would be 300% more depressed and would have lost over 950 friends. Luckily, not true for this user. (Elliott Masie, TechLearn Trends, #65, 31 Aug 98)