Loneliness and Social Media Use among Religious Latter-Day Saint College Students: an Exploratory Study

Abstract

As a potent psychosocial stressor, loneliness is associated with numerous mental and physical health complaints. The recent rise in social media use has presented opportunity for more frequent social interactions to occur with larger social networks than ever before. Somewhat paradoxically, many studies have found that increased use of social media is associated with and, may lead to, increases in loneliness and associated deleterious outcomes. However, much less is known about this relationship among homogenous populations, such as those from specific religious contexts where similar values and beliefs are shared and, in turn, may influence the interaction between the experience of loneliness and social media use. The current study addresses this research gap by exploring perceptions of loneliness (using the three-item LON measure) and daily time spent on social media (ranging from 10 min to 3 h) among 579 college students who were self-identified in the Latter-day Saint (LDS) faith at a private religious university in the Intermountain West. Those who spent more time on social media reported being lonelier, while both loneliness and time spent on social media were related to important health variables (e.g., depressive symptoms, diet, sleep, subjective health). Moreover, there appears to be two groups most at risk for experiencing greater loneliness and spending more time on social media: women, and college students not in a romantic relationship. Results are discussed in light of implications for prevention and remediation of loneliness within the college context.