Considering that the word “social” is in the name “social media,” you would think that spending hours of our day on it would indeed make us more social. But some studies have actually found that the opposite is true. Social media is supposed to be this great thing that can bring people together, yet the more we use it, the lonelier we are.
In fact, a study conducted in 2016 found that, “in spite of this enhanced interconnectivity, young adults may be lonelier than other age groups, and that the current generation may be the loneliest ever.” So what’s going on? Why does using social media make us feel lonely if we’re supposedly connecting to people online? Has social media actually made us less social?
Convenience
In my own experience, and one that I’m sure many of you can relate to, social media is so convenient that it isolates us. Why would you go through all the trouble of organizing a meet up with a friend when you can just send them a message online? For a teenager who may be unable to drive, a quick text seems like a much more convenient choice than figuring out how to get to your friend through walking or public transit. And it takes so much less time!
I ran into this problem a lot when I was in college doing group projects. Despite the fact that we were supposed to work together, nobody wanted to meet up in person to actually do the work. Everyone just wanted to text each other in a group chat. And trust me when I say that doing a group project over text is so much more frustrating than it needs to be.
FOMO
Another reason why social media might make us feel lonelier is that it makes many of us experience FOMO, or the fear of missing out.
Scrolling through endless posts on Instagram and seeing all your friends doing fun things makes us feel worse about ourselves if we’re just sitting around at home. If it makes us feel as though we’re actually being less social, when in reality, you’re only seeing one side of the picture. People don’t usually post pictures of themselves sitting around on the couch at home. That’s just not interesting.
How We Use Social Media
I think a good way to look at it is to actually take a step back and ask, were some of these social media ever social at all?
I would argue that something like Facebook absolutely was, but most of the time we’re not actually using social media to engage with other people. Most of our time is spent scrolling. And even if you are interacting, how in-depth of a conversation are you really having in the comments section of an Instagram post? Are you really going to make meaningful connections by having an argument through the replies on Twitter?
The major problem is that people don’t typically use social media to be social. So yeah, I would say it has made us less social. But that’s not saying that we can’t change that.
There are many great opportunities like joining online groups with people that share a common interest or catching up with a long distance friend through messaging. Though I would also urge people to still make time for face-to-face connection if they’re feeling lonely. It really can make all the difference.
So what do you think? Has social media made us less social?
Twitter Post
Has #socialmedia made us less social? 🤔The evidence seems to say yes. Learn more about social media and its ties to loneliness in my latest blog post! #loneliness #FOMO
Facebook Post
Considering that the word “social” is in the name “social media,” you would think that spending hours of our day on it would indeed make us more social. But some studies have actually found that the opposite is true.
Click the link to learn more about social media and its ties to loneliness in my latest blog post! http://tinyurl.com/yc39penc
#loneliness #socialmedia #FOMO
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 
I absolutely think social media has made us less social. When I am spending time on social media, I find I am not using the time to converse with those I follow. I am often hiding behind behind my device to observe what others are doing and posting, but I am not actively engaging.
That being said, social media has definitely allowed for me to stay connected to those I am not able to see in person on a regular basis due to distance. I able to connect with and see what my friends in other countries are up to thanks to social media, which makes me more social than I previously would have been able to be with them. So while I think social media definitely has made us less social in the physical aspect, I think it has done great things to keep us social online with those we can’t physically connect with.
Yeah totally! Social media has given my family the ability to reconnect with family members overseas, so that’s great. But other than that, I spend most of my time scrolling to look at what other people are doing, not socializing.
I completely agree. Having social media has really made me less social, in the winter at least, why go out in the cold when you can use your phone at home, summer time I would probably be doing the same thing however racing keeps me out and socializing in person until the season ends.
Oh yeah the winter really gets me feeling antisocial. I’m not a fan of the cold so messaging someone online always seems like a better alternative than going outside.