Americans’ love affairs with mobile phones and the Internet are not contributing factors to an increase in social isolation in the United States, according to a new study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Despite the fact that more and more of us are spending time glued to screens large and small, in its study, Social Isolation and New Technology, Pew found that the contacts and connections made by using those tools don’t come at the expense of real-life relationships.

It also said that use of social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace provides an outlet for “discussion networks that are more likely to contain people from different backgrounds,” a plus for diversity.

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