Resumen
This article focuses on the impact of the Internet on social and psychological well-being of an individual. The HomeNet project, studied a sample of 169 people in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As people in this sample used the Internet more, they reported keeping up with fewer friends, spending less time talking with their families, experiencing more daily life stressors and feeling more lonely and depressed. These results occurred even though interpersonal communication was their most important reason for using the Internet. Some critics have dismissed conclusions made by HomeNet project because they are not drawn from a national sample of the U.S. population. Many important studies in medicine and the social sciences have examined small community samples and in doing so, have traded off the depth achieved in examining a small sample over time with the generality achieved in large, national surveys. Moderation in the use of the Internet, as in most activities, is sensible. But perhaps more importantly, people should pay attention to how they use the Internet and the cost of the time devoted to the Internet.

Resumen
The article focuses on the quality of online social relationships. People use the Internet intensely for interpersonal communication, sending and receiving email, contacting friends and family via instant messaging services, visiting chat rooms, or subscribing to distribution lists, among other activities. The evidence is clear that interpersonal communication is an important use of the Internet, if not its most important use. Claims regarding the Internet's usefulness for developing social relationships, however, remain controversial. Both personal testimonials and systematically collected data document the deep and meaningful social relationships people can cultivate online. This evidence, however, conflicts with data comparing the value that people place on their online relationships with offline relationships and with data comparing social relationships among heavy and light Internet users. First there is a need to know how computer-mediated communication affects the quality of particular social interactions and relationships.