- James Holmes, the Colorado shooting suspect, has no social media presence
- Psychologists say it could suggest isolation, resentment toward society
- 81% of 18- to 29-year-olds are on social networking sites, Pew says
- Others with the same name are being harassed on Facebook
(CNN) -- It's a truth of the digital age. When a person is plucked from obscurity, for good reasons or bad, the first thing curiosity-seekers do is turn to the Web.
Facebook or Twitter. LinkedIn or Tumblr. We expect social media to shed light on a person's personality, especially when, as in the case of Colorado shooting suspect James Holmes, we're trying to explain the unexplainable.
As it turns out, 24-year-old Holmes, who stands accused of killing 12 people and wounding dozens more during a shooting spree at a movie theater Friday, appears to have left virtually no digital footprint. Media and law enforcement investigating the shootings have found no traces of him online, aside from a possible account on Adult Friend Finder, a romantic meet-up site, according to police.
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It's impossible, of course, to draw broad conclusions about his mindset based on the fact that he didn't share online. But Holmes' lack of an online presence has emerged as a piece of the puzzle for people looking for answers.
The public gets its first glimpse of James Holmes, 24, the suspect in the Colorado theater shooting during his initial court appearance Monday, July 23. With his hair dyed reddish-orange, Holmes, here with public defender Tamara Brady, showed little emotion. He is accused of opening fire in a movie theater Friday, July 20, in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 people and wounding 58 others. 
Holmes often had a blank stare during his court appearance Monday, appearing to be in a daze. 
Victims and their relatives and journalists watch the proceedings Monday. 
Flags fly at half-staff Monday at the Arapahoe County Courthouse in Centennial, Colorado, where the movie theater shooting suspect had his first court appearance. The prosecutor held a press conference outside the courthouse. 
Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers talks to reporters Monday before heading into the courthouse. Chambers said the decision on whether to pursue the death penalty is a long process that involves input from victims and their families. 
Family members of the victims arrive at the courthouse Monday for the suspect's first court appearance. 
The Century Aurora 16 multiplex in Aurora becomes a place of horror after a gunman opened fire Friday in a crowded theater. At least 17 people remained hospitalized late Sunday, July 22, in the shooting rampage that shocked the nation. 
Holmes is accused of opening fire during a midnight screening of the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises." Holmes purchased four weapons and more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition in recent months, police say. 
Police investigate outside the Century 16 multiplex Saturday, July 21, a day after the mass shooting. Authorities have been tight-lipped about a possible motive in the case. 
Agents search the suspect's car outside the theater. 
Aurora police escort a sand-filled dump truck containing improvised explosive devices removed from Holmes' booby-trapped apartment Saturday. Authorities have said they believe the suspect rigged his place before leaving for the movie theater. 
Police break a window at the suspect's apartment Friday in Aurora. 
Law enforcement officers speak with Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, center, outside the suspect's apartment Saturday. 
Law enforcement officers prepare to disarm the booby-trapped apartment Saturday. 
Officials tow cars outside Holmes' apartment Saturday. Police disassembled devices and trip wires set up in the apartment. 
Officers prepare to place an explosive device inside the apartment. 
Debris flies out a window, right, after law enforcement officers detonate an explosive device inside the apartment Saturday. 
People mourn the victims during a vigil behind the theater where a gunman opened fire on moviegoers in Aurora. 
A woman grieves during a vigil for victims behind the theater. 
A distraught woman receives counseling from Pastor Quincy Shannon, left, in front of Gateway High School in Aurora, where the families of the missing met following the shooting. 
Lin Gan of Aurora holds back tears as she speaks to reporters about her experience in the Century 16 theater Friday. 
People embrace before a vigil for victims behind the theater where a gunman opened fire on moviegoers. 
Investigators work on evidence near the apartment of James Holmes on Friday. 
Members of the Aurora Police Department SWAT unit walk near the apartment of James Holmes. Police have Holmes,24, of North Aurora, in custody. 
Television news crews gather in front of the home of Robert and Arlene Holmes, parents of 24-year-old mass shooting suspect James Holmes, in San Diego, California. on Friday. 
A popcorn box lies on the ground outside the Century 16 movie theatre. 
An NYPD officer keeps watch inside an AMC move theater where the film "The Dark Knight Rises" is playing in Times Square on Friday. NYPD is maintaining security around city movie theaters following the deadly rampage in Aurora, Colorado. 
Adariah Legarreta, 4, is comforted by her grandmother Rita Abeyta near the Century 16 Theater in Aurora. 
A cyclist and pedestrians pass a theater showing the latest Batman movie in Hollywood, California, on Friday. Warner Brothers said it was "deeply saddened" by Friday's massacre at a Colorado screening of "The Dark Knight Rises." 
Obama supporters observe a moment of silence for the victims at a campaign event at Harborside Event Center in Fort Myers, Florida, on Friday. 
Jessica Ghawi, an aspiring sportscaster, was one of the victims. 
A woman waits for news outside Gateway High School, a few blocks from the scene of the shooting at the Century Aurora 16. 
Aurora police chief Daniel J. Oates speaks at a press conference near the Century 16 Theater on Friday. 
Agents search the trash container outside the suspect's apartment in Aurora. 
A Federal ATF officer carries protective gear onsite at the home of alleged shooting suspect James Holmes. 
Obama speaks on the shootings at the event in Fort Myers. 
Moviegoers are interviewed at the Century Aurora 16. 
Officers gathered at the theater Friday. 
Investigators were a common sight at the theater Friday. 
Authorities gather at the shooting suspect's apartment building in Aurora. Police broke a second-floor window to look for explosives that the suspect claimed were in the apartment. 
Screaming, panicked moviegoers scrambled to escape from the black-clad gunman, who wore a gas mask and randomly shot as he walked up the theater's steps, witnesses said. 
University of Colorado Hospital spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery said that all of the wounded had injuries from gunshot wounds, ranging from minor to critical. 
A woman sits on top of her car near the crime scene. 
Police block access to the Town Center mall after the shooting. 
Witnesses told KUSA that the gunman kicked in an emergency exit door and threw a smoke bomb into the darkened theater before opening fire. 
What is believed to be the suspect's car is examined after the shooting. 
Repubican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney delivers remarks regarding the shooting in an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater on Friday at a campaign event in Bow, New Hampshire. 
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No gun law changes likely after shooting "We could ask the same questions about the lack of Web presence that we could for anyone who isolates themselves. Was he socially isolated in all senses?" asked Dr. Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Center.
"We know that social isolation can amplify the negative consequences of stress and increase the risk of developing psychopathology. Some research has shown that social isolation actually delays the positive effects of activities found to be emotionally beneficial, such as exercise. ... What we don't know is what caused Holmes to have such a break with reality."
Whatever his reasons, the lack of an online presence puts Holmes squarely in the minority among his peers.
About 81% of 18- to 29-year-olds in the United States use social media at least occasionally, said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project.
And surveys show that college students like Holmes, who was a graduate neurosciences student at the University of Colorado, are even more likely to use the sites.
But Rainie says it would be a mistake to draw a direct line between his decision to eschew social networking and a mindset that led to the alleged violence.
"It's not the norm for someone of this age to have such a limited presence, in any form: no blogs, no profile on a photo-sharing site and things like that," Rainie said. "But it's also a mistake to think the everyone in this age cohort is living every minute of their lives with social media. That's not the case."
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The survey didn't ask respondents for specific reasons that they choose not to engage online. But Rainie said Pew has heard numerous reasons, from concerns about wasting time to privacy concerns to simply preferring face-to-face interaction.
In a Pew survey from November, two-thirds of respondents (67%) said that staying in touch with current friends is a major reason they use social media, and half gave similar importance to connecting with old friends. Only 3% said that finding a romantic partner was a major reason for their of digital networking tools.
"It's certainly an interesting element of his life that (Holmes) had such a limited digital presence," Rainie said. "But it's not necessarily the case that this means anything about the quality of his social world."
Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, a professor of business psychology at University College of London, has studied the impact of Internet use on mental health. He too says it's impossible to nail down its significance at this point but listed a set of possibilities, from a sense of isolation to distaste for Facebook as an emblem of "the status quo" to something perhaps even more sinister.
"He (possibly) did not want to have any reputation other than for what he was planning to do, like someone who saves himself for the big stage or a single lead role," Chamorro-Premuzic said.
Similar attacks in the recent past have, in some cases, painted a different picture.
Jared Lee Loughner, charged in the January 2011 shootings in Tucson, Arizona, that killed six people and wounded congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was active on MySpace and YouTube, among other online networks.
Anders Behring Breivik was 32 when he killed 69 people, mostly teenagers, at summer camp in Norway in July 2011. Breivik was a prolific blogger who was active on Facebook, Twitter and other sites. He posted a video to YouTube only hours before his shooting rampage.
By contrast, reporters looking into the mindset of Seung-Hui Cho, the 23-year-old student who killed 32 people and wounded 25 others in an April 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech, found almost no traces of him online.
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The lack of a digital footprint for Holmes has created some unpleasantness for an unexpected group: people who share his relatively common name, live in the area of the shooting and do have a Web presence.
"It amazes me how insensitive, heartless and just plain old IGNORANT some people are in this world," a different James Holmes, this one a fitness instructor who, like the suspect, lives in Aurora, wrote on his Facebook page. "In the last 24 hours I have received hate mail, racist remarks, and sexual advances. I have over 400 friend requests in which a quarter of those are ppl mocking the real killer to gain attention and this was all AFTER the identity of the real killer was revealed ..."
James P. Holmes, who lives in the Denver area, left a similar note on Facebook, albeit in a more wry tone.
"I am not a 24-year-old gun-slinging killer from Aurora, I am a 22-year-old book-slinging mass eater from Littleton ... ," he wrote. "James Holmes happens to be a pretty common name, surprisingly, so try not to jump the gun. Regards, A different guy named James Holmes."
With few, if any, conclusions to draw, Rutledge said the most interesting observation about society as a whole may be how surprised we are that the suspect did not use social media.
"It's a testimony to how normal participating in the social media world is when we look at the lack of presence as an anomaly," she said. "(We wonder,) 'What's wrong with this guy that he's not at least on Facebook?' "
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CNN's Brandon Griggs contributed to this report.
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