From the UK to the US to India, numerous studies confirm the links between social media and loneliness, depression and anxiety. But how can social media use lead to social isolation?
Why is social media so bad for our mental health? Does this mean we need to completely cut social media out of our lives?
This post explores why social media is linked to loneliness. We’ll also look at how to make sure using social media doesn’t make you feel isolated or depressed.
How are isolation and social media linked?
Looking at perfect profiles and dream vacation photos online often triggers feelings of envy and missing out. As such, it’s easy to see how social media and feelings of isolation can be linked.
We may also see people at an event to which we were not invited and feel lonely. However, when we look at sites like Facebook or Instagram, we only see an idealized version of reality.
On an instinctive level, many people probably realize that social media can have negative effects on our mental health. Our online behavior also greatly affects our self-image. However, while this is supported by numerous studies, things could be worse.
In fact, a 2018 study found that heavy social media use can actually triple feelings of social isolation. Given that isolation is linked to an increased risk of disease, this illustrates the potentially disastrous effects of excessive social media use.
This study included a sample of 1,787 participants between the ages of 19 and 32 years. They asked them about their use of the top 11 social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.
Those who visited social networks more than 58 times each week were three times more likely to feel lonely than people who did so less than 9 times a week.
However, this study was unable to conclude whether social isolation is caused by social media use or whether lonely people use social media more.
Is there a causal link between loneliness and social media use?
One of the paradoxes of the modern age: The more time you spend on social media, the less social you become.
A University of Pennsylvania study found supporting evidence that social media and isolation are linked. They even found evidence of causality rather than just a relationship between loneliness, isolation, and social media use.
With a sample of 140 college students, participants were asked to either reduce or increase their regular use of social media. Questionnaires completed before and after the study helped reveal that increases in anxiety, depression, and loneliness stem from the fear of missing out, which people call FOMO.
The Pennsylvania study found that people with higher levels of depression were most affected. However, in the end, anyone who uses social media often suffers as well. FOMO leads us to compulsively check social media updates.
It also inhibits our ability to relax and reduces the time we can spend socially. In comparison, participants who were asked to limit their social media use reported a reduction in depression and loneliness.
Since social media use increases our tendency to compare socially and gives us less time for real-life social interactions, reducing our use of social media can help us feel less lonely.
Distractions can also reduce our enjoyment of current situations, according to a study by the University of British Columbia. However, does this mean we should stop using social media altogether?
Should we cut social media out of our lives?
Interestingly, the studies mentioned above do not conclude that social media use should be completely ended. They simply find that our use of social media needs to be curtailed.
In addition, phenomena such as the friendship paradox suggest that we should strive to avoid making constant comparisons between ourselves and others if we want to improve our mental health.
Other studies have also found positive effects of social media in terms of connectedness as we age. For example, a 2019 study examining “the association between use of online social networking sites and perceived social isolation among individuals in the second half of life” in Germany offers some hope.
They found that the sample of people over the age of 40 who were daily users of social media scored lower on isolation than those who did not use social media.
Another study conducted by the University of Luxembourg also found potential benefits for clinical practice and health literacy development among older adults.
Another study found that teens who used Instagram actually felt more appreciated. They also felt closer to others thanks to their use of the platform. This suggests that social media use does not have to be isolating if we focus on quality over quantity.
A study conducted by the University of Missouri-Columbia also supported this. In fact, they found that social media did not always, and sometimes did, have negative effects on social well-being.
