BEIJING, April 23 -- Retirees who regularly surf the net are less likely to suffer from depression than those non-users, according to a new study in this week's Journals of Gerontology: Series B.

Retired people, interested in chatting with family and friends online, have a 33 percent lower probability of depression than those who not.

"The largest impacts on depression were actually for those people who lived alone, so connecting with others could possibly eliminate isolation and loneliness," said Shelia Cotten, lead author of this study.

Nearly 80 percent of Americans over the age of 50, or about 5 to 10 million people, are affected by depression, according to health experts.

This study is based on the data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Survey, covering 3,075 retired men and women who didn't live in nursing homes.