=+2.28 Based on a survey of 4113 U.S. adults, researchers at Stanford University concluded that Internet use leads to increased social isolation. The survey was conducted by an Internet-based polling company that selected its samples from a pool of 35,000 potential respondents, all of whom had been given free Internet access and WebTV hardware in exchange for agreeing to regularly participate in surveys conducted by the polling company. Two criticisms of this study were expressed in an article that appeared in the San