Unpacking the link between social media and loneliness

Passive consumption of social media seems to reinforce feelings of disconnection, according to a JRC policy brief which examines the relationship between social media use and loneliness.

Social media has become an inescapable part of daily life. It facilitates global connectivity, allowing individuals to engage in conversations, collaborate, and share thoughts, photos, and ideas. It has transformed how people form relationships and build communities, free from geographical and other barriers and has enabled constant communication with friends and family, allowing for immediate and interactive responses.

Yet for many, especially younger users, social media appears to deliver a more complex outcome. In-person communications have dropped concomitantly to the drastic increase in the time spent online, which has led many to question the potential impact of social media on wellbeing in general and loneliness in particular.

In the policy brief Loneliness and social media use in the European Union, the JRC provides the first European-level analysis of social media use patterns and the association between intensive social media use and loneliness. The data was taken from the 2022 EU-wide survey on loneliness (EU-LS) conducted by the JRC, and reveals that, when it comes to the loneliness experienced by young Europeans, it’s not so much the hours spent on social platforms that matter most—it’s the how.

Passive scrolling vs active engagement

The JRC study, which examines social media use patterns across Europe, reveals that approximately 34.5% and 26.1% of respondents aged 16-30 use social networking sites and instant messaging tools for more than two hours per day. Additionally, over one-third of young respondents show patterns consistent with social media addiction like neglecting work, family or school for social media use multiple times a week. For those aged 31 and above, these figures are significantly lower.

The empirical analysis suggests that spending more than two hours daily on social networking sites is associated with a substantial increase in loneliness prevalence, but the results also point to a critical distinction. While intensive passive use of social media correlates with greater loneliness, there is no significant association between intensive use of instant messaging tools, or between active use of social media and loneliness.

This distinction points to the fact that the type of engagement, not just the time spent on it, is a key factor in whether social media has an effect on loneliness.

Policy implications and next steps

The JRC’s findings align with previous research on the matter and are especially timely, as on the day of her election, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced in the Political Guidelines for 2024-2029 that “an EU-wide inquiry on the broader impacts of social media on well-being” of young people will be launched. In the meantime, the JRC will continue this work alongside the Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, exploring the effects of adolescents’ social media habits on their well-being, mental health, and academic achievement.