Social networked friendship quality can be means of combating loneliness

Loneliness is on the rise in the U.S., with a third of Americans reporting they’ve experienced “serious loneliness” in recent years. Lonely people are twice as likely to become depressed, and loneliness is a key risk factor for self-harm and suicide, perhaps playing a role in the record number of suicides in the U.S. in 2023 — more than 50,000.

Many suspect the increase in loneliness is due to the collapse of interpersonal social contact and community engagement, as more and more of our time is spent online rather than connecting in person. Young Americans between the ages of 18-29 now spend more than five hours a day social networking, and heavy social media use has been linked to depression.

Spending too much time social networking appears to be a key driver in loneliness, but a new paper published in Telematics and Informatics suggests motivated uses of social networking sites for connecting with people and feeling companionship can also play a role in alleviating it. The paper was written by Brandon Bouchillon, an associate professor of journalism at the U of A.

The paper tested the influence of networked friendship quality on trait self-esteem and loneliness. Bouchillon distinguishes between trait self-esteem, as the more constant and enduring form of self-esteem, and state self-esteem, which is transitory, like the boost someone might feel from a social media post being liked.

Bouchillon conducted a web survey of 1,500 participants matched to U.S. Census percentages for sex, race, ethnicity, age and region of residence, and was able to follow up with more than half of them six weeks later. Respondents were given statements like, “I am a person of worth” and “I feel that I have a number of good qualities,” then asked to reply on a five-point scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.”

Respondents were also asked whether in the past week they felt left out or isolated from others. Networked friendship quality questions asked if they joked with friends on social networking sites or felt a sense of camaraderie when using them.

Generally, Bouchillon found that younger respondents, from 18-29 and 30-39, reported much greater networked friendship quality than people 50 and over. That said, younger people from 18-39 also tended to report lower self-esteem and higher rates of loneliness. But those who felt closeness and camaraderie with other users of social networking reported increased self-esteem even six weeks later, and this association was significant for users up to the age of 61. Gains in self-esteem spilled over to reductions in loneliness for younger generations as well, with the indirect effect eventually becoming non-significant for users in their 60s and 70s.

People over 70 reported lower levels of self-esteem as they became close with other people on social networking sites, perhaps because they see digital friendship less as a supplement to real life connections and more as a crutch.

“I’m finding that changes to personal networks — feeling closeness and camaraderie with other users social networking — can lead to increased feelings of self-worth, and this relates to lower levels of perceived social isolation, even over time,” Bouchillon said.

“So despite the fact that how you feel about yourself is mostly stable through life,” he continued, “connecting with people and sensing camaraderie even remotely can lead to feeling better about yourself, and less lonely, which in theory relates to lower chances of self-harm and suicide.”

Bouchillon said he became interested in this topic because the Surgeon General issued a warning about the high level of suicides in America last year, and he encouraged researchers to look at the potential for networked modes of communication to connect people.

“It's really difficult to address suicidal ideation and self-harm directly through surveys,” Bouchillon explained. “These are socially undesirable things to ask about, and nobody wants to admit feeling this way. That said, they are more willing to talk about feeling socially isolated and lonely. So I’m attacking the suicide risk and suicidal ideation problem through the lens of loneliness with this study.”

Ultimately, Bouchillon thinks high school, college and adult education classes aimed at developing best practices for using social networking applications safely and effectively to establish connections with new and diverse others would be good places to start.

The question of how best to foster these friendships is not the focus of the paper, but in another forthcoming study for Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, Bouchillon finds that joining hobby groups and interest groups based on topics unrelated to politics could help.

Using shared interests to break the ice on social networking sites can help users overlook other differences at first. This allows personal networks to expand and could potentially contribute to a sense of companionship. Nonpolitical topics can range from being fans of the same sports team to enjoying the same hobbies, such as hiking, gardening or birdwatching. Connecting with people on the basis of shared interests could be used to encourage real world social engagement and more diverse social camaraderie.