Heavy social media use can actually deepen feelings of loneliness

Doomscrolling isn’t curing the loneliness blues. In a sample of U.S. adults aged 30-70, people who checked social platforms more often or spent more total time on them were more likely to report feeling lonely.

The pattern held across the age span. Quick peeks and long sessions were both tied to higher odds of feeling alone.

A study led by Oregon State University’s Dr. Jessica Gorman included more than 1,500 adults and extends earlier work in young adults by co-author Dr. Brian Primack to midlife and older age.

The data were survey-weighted to mirror the U.S. population.

Measuring loneliness and social use

Participants reported both how often they used social media and how much time they spent on it. Those are not the same behaviors. One is frequency – how many “checks” you do in a day.

The other is duration – how long you linger. The researchers examined each against a standard measure of loneliness. Both showed the same pattern of association: more use, more loneliness.

“I wasn’t sure if we would see as strong a relationship between social media and loneliness for 60-year-olds that we saw with 18-year-olds, but we did,” said Dr. Primack.

“Those who were in the upper 25 percent based on frequency of social media use, compared with those in the lower 25 percent, were more than twice as likely to test as lonely.”

Not just a young person story

The team expected the link in teens and young adults. Seeing it in people near retirement is a different kind of wake-up call.

It suggests that the way we use platforms – lots of brief, habitual check-ins or long stretches of scrolling – may crowd out real connection or simply fail to provide it, regardless of age.

“Most prior research on social media use and loneliness has focused on youth and young adults,” Dr. Gorman explained.

“Even after adjusting for all measured sociodemographic factors among the people in our study, we found a significant association between people being lonely and people being on social media frequently or for extended periods.”

Health risks of loneliness

Loneliness isn’t just a bad feeling. It’s linked to higher risks of heart disease, depression, substance use, and intimate partner violence.

The U.S. Surgeon General has likened its health impact to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

Americans were already becoming lonelier before the pandemic, and COVID-19 made it worse. Today, roughly half of U.S. adults report loneliness.

Against that backdrop, the idea that more social media could ease the ache is tempting. The new results argue otherwise.

For many people, the more time or touches they rack up on apps such as TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, the lonelier they feel.

It’s easy to assume the problem is just long sessions. This study says otherwise. Many short checks carried the same association as fewer but longer sessions.

Estimates suggest some people check social feeds 100-200 times a day and spend two to four hours total. Many of those touches are tiny, but they still add up.

Older adults more vulnerable

The authors note that midlife and older adults are “digital immigrants,” not digital natives.

They may be less fluent in the unspoken rules of online connection, or more likely to swap offline time for on-screen time. That could make the mismatch between screen time and real belonging feel sharper as people age.

“There hasn’t been enough research on adults, who use social media a lot and experience harm due to loneliness,” said Dr. Primack.

“An important caveat is that this was a correlational study, so we can’t say whether using social media leads to loneliness or whether lonely people seek out more social media. It may be a combination.”

More social media research needed

This is not a lab experiment. It’s observational. That means the direction of cause and effect is unresolved.

The team tried to rule out obvious confounders by adjusting for gender, age, sexual orientation, education, employment, and marital status.

Even after those adjustments, the associations held. But unmeasured factors could still play a role.

“Although this study cannot determine why the connection exists, it does recommend caution around heavy social media use among U.S. adults,” Dr. Gorman added.

“The results also suggest that, if it’s primarily a case of lonely people seeking out more social media, doing so doesn’t make the loneliness go away.”

Steps for easing loneliness

If you’re feeling isolated, more scrolling probably isn’t the fix. Try flipping the default. Use platforms to spark real contact – send a voice note, schedule a call, or set a time to meet – then step away.

Give yourself “off” windows each day, especially in the evening. Replace some checks with short walks, errands with a friend, or a standing plan with family.

For health systems and employers, the takeaway is simple. Ask about loneliness at routine visits. Normalize it.

Offer low-lift, real-world ways to connect – group classes, peer support, volunteer opportunities. Treat heavy social media use as a flag to explore, not a failing to judge.

The bottom line is plain enough. Social apps can keep us entertained and informed. They are not a cure for feeling alone.

The findings are reported in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

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