Project Title

Social Media Use and Loneliness During Different Phases of the Pandemic

Presentation Author(s) Information

Clara EyselFollow
Natalie ClarkFollow
Sophy SanchezFollow

Faculty Mentor(s) Name(s)

Dr. Tsu-Ming Chiang

Abstract

The pandemic lock-downs brought many in-person social lives to a halt in March 2020. Many face-to-face interactions were limited to prevent the spread of the virus. The lack of social contact during the pandemic increased feelings of loneliness and significantly correlated with a lower quality of life (Sierakowska et. al, 2022). Young people also resort to social media to keep in touch with friends and family. Positive social media experiences were correlated with lower loneliness ratings (Magis, 2021), suggesting social media was used as a tool to mitigate loneliness. Perceived social support also helped mitigate loneliness and increase hope in many young people. This social support often came in the form of social media interactions due to physical isolation (Bareket, 2021). However, excessive social media engagement was also positively correlated with higher loneliness (Rajan et al., 2022). With the positive and negative implications of using social media, it is important to examine the relationship between social media usage and loneliness during different periods of the pandemic. An online survey was created to document various emotional outcomes of COVID isolation since the Fall of 2020. Three waves of data (N = 198, 154, and 160, respectively) were collected to examine how college students use social media to cope during the different phases of COVID-19, especially during the latest phase of COVID-19 when more opportunities to see friends and family in person. Greater social media use is expected to increase loneliness. The detailed results and implications will be discussed at the conference.

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Social Media Use and Loneliness During Different Phases of the Pandemic

The pandemic lock-downs brought many in-person social lives to a halt in March 2020. Many face-to-face interactions were limited to prevent the spread of the virus. The lack of social contact during the pandemic increased feelings of loneliness and significantly correlated with a lower quality of life (Sierakowska et. al, 2022). Young people also resort to social media to keep in touch with friends and family. Positive social media experiences were correlated with lower loneliness ratings (Magis, 2021), suggesting social media was used as a tool to mitigate loneliness. Perceived social support also helped mitigate loneliness and increase hope in many young people. This social support often came in the form of social media interactions due to physical isolation (Bareket, 2021). However, excessive social media engagement was also positively correlated with higher loneliness (Rajan et al., 2022). With the positive and negative implications of using social media, it is important to examine the relationship between social media usage and loneliness during different periods of the pandemic. An online survey was created to document various emotional outcomes of COVID isolation since the Fall of 2020. Three waves of data (N = 198, 154, and 160, respectively) were collected to examine how college students use social media to cope during the different phases of COVID-19, especially during the latest phase of COVID-19 when more opportunities to see friends and family in person. Greater social media use is expected to increase loneliness. The detailed results and implications will be discussed at the conference.