The possibilities are endless.

Almost nine years ago I reported here on the Homenet Project, an academic attempt to investigate "people's use of the Internet at home". Back then, the project published findings that caused quite a stir:

Greater use of the Internet is associated with declines in the size of participants' social networks, declines in communication within the family and, for teenagers, declines in social support.
Greater use of the Internet is associated with increases in loneliness and symptoms of depression.

Somewhat to my surprise, that project is apparently still being funded. It has also added an additional bullet to the findings it reports on its main page:

These declines are especially strong during the first years online, but may drop or even reverse with time or as the services available on the Internet improve.

Many will claim that this additional bullet basically says something along the lines of "we haven't been able to repeat our highly publicized, and criticized, original findings", while explaining that (not exactly minor) problem away through changes in internet use, rather than by admitting to results that were inaccurate to begin with.

Go to: The plain brown paper envelope column.