Usage of Social Media to Reduce Feelings of Loneliness in Young Adults

Abstract

Humans have reaped the endless benefits of living in groups. Collective living has increased survival chances and helped exchange emotional and social information, which creates a sense of belongingness. The study aims to examine the impact of social media and the internet on feelings of loneliness in young adults of the Indian population. A Google form was created to collect the data from the participants from the age group of 18 to 27 years. The UCLA loneliness scale and a few qualitative questions were asked to make the study more valuable. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used, and 120 participants passed the inclusion criteria. The collected data was analysed by using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). An Independent sample t-test was employed to find the gender difference in social media usage durations, and a significant difference was found (t (119) = 2.265, p<0.05 two-tailed), where females (M=4.80 hrs, SD=2.265) outperformed males (M =4 hrs, SD=1.803). Pearson’s correlations were administered to find the correlation between loneliness levels and the time duration of social media usage. The results of the study indicated no significant correlation between loneliness levels and the time duration of social media usage (r=0.084). The results thus show that merely considering the time used for consuming social media does not correlate with loneliness levels. The researchers call for future research that focuses more on the nuanced connection between social media usage and its impacts on loneliness levels.