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The article shows results from the World Internet Project, an international research focused on examining the influence of computers, the Internet and related technologies on the individual, family and society. The main goal of this paper is to give readers a general view on Internet use in four studied countries (USA, Singapore, Hungary, Czech Republic). The article shows differences in the Internet use according to gender, age and education of the population, indicating the digital gaps in these four countries. The results about reasons for non Internet use are also presented. The paper also gives a basic image of the effects of the Internet on time spent with families and the overall contact with families and friends. The article presents data from quantitative research on population samples of 18 years of age and older, all four samples were made representative for each country