Seniors active on social media have higher tendency to be lonely: study
Regularly posting on social media may be a sign of loneliness in seniors, a South Korean study found.
Researchers have found a connection between active social media use and feeling lonely among those aged 60 and older. The study, led by Min Kyoung-bok, a professor of preventive medicine at Seoul National University College of Medicine, collected data from 34,142 Seoul residents aged 20 and up through the 2024 Seoul Survey. The average age of the respondents was 52.
"Associations between SNS (social network services) behaviors and loneliness were stronger among adults aged ≥60 years and participants with high digital literacy," read the study, which was published in the July issue of the Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health and reported by the Korea Herald.
The study assessed five social media behaviors: daily posting, using social media to find information, prioritizing online activities to face-to-face communication, social comparison, and dealing with the fear of missing out.
It found that respondents aged 60 and older who admitted to posting about what they were up to every day were 1.83 times more likely to be lonely compared to non-users of social media in the same age group.
Seniors who preferred to communicate through social media than offline were 1.89 times more prone to loneliness than their peers who did not use the platform.
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Generally, 33.5% of the senior respondents said they had a tendency to be lonely, along with 22.85 of those in their 20s.
The 20-59 age group did not show any significant data that suggested a link between their social media use and the tendency to feel lonely.
The results did not present any substantial differences between sexes.
While the study did not establish why there were associations between certain social media activities and loneliness, it found some possible reasons. Feelings of loneliness may have been heightened by social comparison, the human need to stay in the loop, and minimized face-to-face interactions, which are all fostered by social media.
Data also showed education, income, marital status, and lifestyle influenced the prevalence of loneliness.
Up to 39.5% of participants who had middle school-or-below levels of education displayed a higher tendency for loneliness compared to 21.8% of those with at least a college degree. Similarly, 39.8% of those in the lowest income group were more likely to be lonely versus 24% in the highest income group.
In the same vein, 42.2% of the respondents who ticked "other" as their marital status, which included divorced, separated, and bereaved reported feelings of loneliness compared to 25.6% of their married peers.
Also indicating higher incidences of loneliness were those with less social support, shorter sleep duration, and zero physical activity.
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