The Effect of Social Media Use on Older Adults’ Loneliness-The Moderating Role of Self-disclosure

Abstract

With the gradual deepening of the aging degree, older adults’ loneliness seriously affects their physical and mental health. Social media as the main source of online social networking that can compensate for social impoverishment, hence have the great enthusiasm for older adults. However, relevant research on the influence of older adults’ loneliness is not thorough enough, especially in the Chinese background. Therefore, this study selects the representative social media-WeChat, to explore its influence on older adults’ loneliness. Firstly, we put forward hypotheses and models by reviewing existing researches. Then use questionnaire survey to obtain relevant data. Through stratified regression, the result shows that: (1) compared with users who do not use WeChat, WeChat use can alleviate loneliness. (2) We did not find a direct connection between the regular use of WeChat and older adults’ loneliness, but we found that when the older adults are good at self-disclosure in WeChat, regular use of WeChat can alleviate loneliness. This study can help us better understand the impact of social media on older adults’ loneliness, and guide relevant institutions to intervene and regulate loneliness for older adults in practice.