Are Web haters abnormal?

The reason is that people who have no account on a social network are suspected to be antisocial and hard to communicate with.

Russian psychologist Nikolay Tumanov fully disagrees with this:

“Some people just feel no need to socialize on the Web, preferring a live contact with people. Socializing on the Web is a rather special way of communication, and it is only natural that some people don’t like it. It is everybody’s personal business whether to socialize on the Web or not.”

However, German psychologist Christoph Moller irrevocably claims that a person who has no account on a social network is mentally abnormal. Mr. Moller’s opinion is based on the examples of the Norwegian Anders Breivik and the US citizen James Holmes, who killed many people for reasons known only to them. Allegedly, both of them had no accounts on any social networks, which, according to Christoph Moller, is evidence that both are antisocial and misanthropic individuals.

Nikolay Tumanov is strictly against labeling a person as antisocial only because he or she doesn’t like socializing on the Web:

“In my opinion, on the contrary, it is more logical to suppose that a person has some psychological problems if he or she prefers socializing on the Web to personal contact. There are grounds to suppose that such a person finds it hard to communicate with people personally.”

“Besides,” Mr. Tumanov continues, “social networks are a new phenomenon, and at present, it is a bit too early to make any conclusions about their influence on people’s psychology. I believe, such conclusions may be made only in about 20 or 30 years from now.”

Another Russian psychologist, Maria Starkova, who specializes in the psychology of suiciders, speaks even sharper about Christoph Moller’s conclusion:

“I believe, this conclusion is absolutely groundless, I would even say, stupid. I have many friends, aged mostly over 30, who never socialize on any Web networks – but all of them are absolutely normal people. It is everybody’s right not to socialize on the Web.”

There is also another reason why some people don’t socialize on the Web. It is no secret that in some countries, social networks are checked by intelligence services. Thus, it is small wonder that some people don’t hurry to reveal too much information about themselves on the Web.