Jessica Hinchliffe: Social networking sites create as many banes as benefits for the isolated

WE LIVE in an ever-changing technological landscape that constantly offers new ways for people to network with each other and socialise, so you would think that people feel more "connected" than ever; however, this is not always the case.

According to the Mental Health Foundation report Lonely Society?, one in ten people stated that they often felt lonely and that half of people interviewed believed that people were getting lonelier in general.

You would think that social networks would have the opposite effect, making it easier for people to stay connected with others – whoever they are, wherever they are, whenever they want.

However, we forget how much of communication is physical. Non-verbal cues and visual signs make up 90 per cent of communication: it's not what we say but how we say it. And as human beings we crave the physical attention resulting from actually having someone with us.

For some people a social setting where they do not physically need to be there to communicate can be a benefit.

For instance, for a person who suffers from social anxiety, taking away the large crowds and potentially embarrassing situations removes the dread that is associated with shyness and social situations.

But social anxiety isn't just about shyness, it is also about having a fear of being negatively appraised. In a world where people can be judged not for what they are but for who they have in their "friends" list and how many people have commented on their latest profile picture, it is easy for a person to regard themselves negatively when they compare themselves with others.

The end result is that this can cause them to withdraw from these virtual situations as well, and because what people talk about online is now what people talk about at work and in the pub, they may find themselves feeling even more left out and alone in the world.

While there is no doubt that new technology such as Facebook and Twitter has broken down barriers in communication, they have equally put up new ones, creating new ways for people to compare themselves with others and misperceive what is being said, leaving people feeling isolated in a virtual world where the boundaries are so frequently blurred with our real one.

• Jessica Hinchliffe is a helpline services co-ordinator, Anxiety UK.