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.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Sina. https://tech.sina.com.cn/d/n/2019-06-19/doc-ihytcitk6214106.shtml. Accessed 21 Dec 2020
National bureau of statistics of the People’s Republic of China. http://data.stats.gov.cn. Accessed 16 Jan 2020
Cattan, M., White, M., Bond, J., et al.: Preventing social isolation and loneliness among older people: a systematic review of health promotion interventions. Ageing Soc. 25, 41–67 (2005)
Grenade, L., Boldy, D.: Social isolation and loneliness among older people: issues and future challenges in community and residential settings. Aust. Health Rev. 32(3), 468–478 (2008)
Weiss, R.S.: Loneliness: The Experience of Emotional and Social Isolation. MIT Press, Cambridge (1973)
Ernst, J.M., Cacioppo, J.T.: Lonely hearts: psychological perspectives on loneliness. Appl. Prev. Psychol. 8(1), 1–22 (1999)
Wu, G.T., Zhang, M.Q., Ni, G.H.: Changes in loneliness among elderly people and its effect factors: a latent transition analysis. Psychol. sinica 50(9), 1061–1070 (2018)
Masi, C.M., Chen, H.Y., Hawkley, L.C., et al.: A meta-analysis of interventions to reduce loneliness christopher. Pers. Soc. Psychol. Rev. 15(3), 54–56 (2011)
Findlay, R.A.: Interventions to reduce social isolation amongst older people: where is the evidence? Ageing Soc. 23(5), 647–658 (2003)
Dickens, A., Richards, S., Greaves, C., Campbell, J.: Interventions targeting social isolation in older people: a systematic review. BMC Publ. Health 11(1), 647 (2011)
Cohen, M.J., Perach, R.: Interventions for alleviating loneliness among older persons: a critical review. Am. J. health Promot. 29(3), e109–e125 (2015)
Sohu. http://www.sohu.com/a/313683341_355029. Accessed 11 Jan 2020
Rubin, A.M., Perse, E.M.: Audience activity and soap opera involvement a uses and effects investigation. Hum. Commun. Res. 14(2), 246–268 (1987)
Kraut, R., Kiesler, S., Boneva, B., et al.: Internet paradox revisited. J. Soc. Issues 58, 49–74 (2002)
Vally, Z., D’Souza, C.G.: Abstinence from social media use, subjective well-being, stress, and loneliness. Perspect. Psychiatr. Care 55(4), 752–759 (2019)
Pittman, M., Reich, B.: Social media and loneliness: why an Instagram picture may be worth more than a thousand Twitter words. Comput. Hum. Behav. 62, 155–167 (2016)
Yang, C.C.: Instagram use, loneliness, and social comparison orientation: interact and browse on social media, but don’t compare. Cyberpsychol. Behav. Soc. Netw. 19(12), 703–708 (2016)
Wright, K.B., Rosenberg, J., Egbert, N., et al.: Communication comeptence, social support and depression among college students: a model of Facebook and face-to-face support network influence. J. Health Commun. 18, 41–57 (2013)
Bevan, J.L., Gomez, R., Sparks, L.: Disclousures about important life events on Facebook, Relationships with stress and quality of life. Comput. Hum. Behav. 39, 246–253 (2014)
Wang, K., Frison, E., Eggermont, S., et al.: Active public Facebook use and adolescents’ feelings of loneliness: evidence for a curvilinear relationship. J. Adolesc. 67, 35–44 (2018)
Karsay, K., Schmuck, D., Matthes, J., Stevic, A.: Longitudinal effects of excessive smartphone use on stress and loneliness: the moderating role of self-disclosure. Cyberpsychol. Behav. Soc. Netw. 22(11), 706–713 (2019)
Aarts, S.: Social media and loneliness among community-dwelling older adults. Int. J. Geriatr. Psychiatry 33(3), 554–555 (2018)
Ko, H.C., Kuo, F.Y.: Can blogging enhance subjective well-being through self-disclosure? CyberPsychol. Behav. 12, 75–79 (2009)
Chen, H.T., Li, X.: The contribution of mobile social media to social capital and psychological well-being: examining the role of communicative use, friending and self-disclosure. Comput. Hum. Behav. 75, 958–965 (2017)
Wei, M.F., Russell, D.W., Zakalik, R.A.: Adult attachment, social self-efficacy, self-disclosure, loneliness, and subsequent depression for freshman college students: a longitudinal study. J. Couns. Psychol. 52(4), 602–614 (2005)
Zhang, R.: The stress-buffering effect of self-disclosure on Facebook: an examination of stressful life events, social support, and mental health among college students. Comput. Hum. Behav. 75, 527–537 (2017)
Hawkley, L.C., Cacioppo, J.T.: Loneliness matters: a theoretical and empirical review of consequences and mechanisms. Ann. Behav. Med. 40(2), 218–227 (2010)
Coelho, J., Rito, F., Duarte, C.: “You, me & TV” - fighting social isolation of older adults with Facebook, TV and multimodality. Int. J. Hum Comput Stud. 98, 38–50 (2007)
Davis, M.H., Kraus, L.A.: Social contact, loneliness, and mass-media use - a test of 2 hypotheses. J. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 19(13), 1100–1124 (1989)
Quan-Haase, A., Young, A.L.: Uses and gratifications of social media: a comparison of Facebook and instant messaging. Bull. Sci. Technol. Soc. 30(5), 350–361 (2010)
Skues, J.L., Williams, B., Wise, L.: The effects of personality traits, self-esteem, loneliness, and narcissism on Facebook use among university students. Comput. Hum. Behav. 28(6), 2414–2419 (2012)
Lee, E.J., Jang, J.W.: Not so imaginary interpersonal contact with public figures on social network sites: how affiliative tendency moderates its effects. Commun. Res. 40(1), 27–51 (2011)
Pittman, M., Tefertiller, A.: With or without you: connected viewing and co-viewing Twitter activity for traditional appointment and asynchronous broadcast television models. First Monday 20(7), 13–24 (2015)
Silva, F., Scortegagna, A.S., Bertoletti, D.M.: Carolina a: Facebook as a social support environment for older adults. UNIVERSITAS Psychol. 17(3), 1–11 (2018)
Jung, E.H., Sundar, S.S.: Status update: gratifications derived from Facebook affordances by older adults. New Media Soc. 20(11), 4135–4154 (2018)
Lee, C.S., Ma, L.: News sharing in social media: the effect of gratifications and prior experience. Comput. Hum. Behav. 28(2), 331–339 (2012)
Thomas, L., Orme, E., Kerrigan, F.: Student loneliness: the role of social media through life transitions. Comput. Educ. 146, 103754 (2020)
Sohn, Y., Woo, S., Jo, D., et al.: The role of the quality of college-based relationship on social media in college-to-work transition of Korean college students: the longitudinal examination of intimacy on social media, social capital, and loneliness. Jpn. Psychol. Res. 61(4), 236–248 (2019)
Valkenburg, P.M., Peter, J.: Online communication and adolescent well-being: testing the stimulation versus the displacement hypothesis. J. Comput.-Mediated Commun. 12, 1169–1182 (2007)
Brunell, A.B.: Self-disclosure. In: Baumeister, R.F., Vohs, K.D. (eds.) Encyclopedia of Social Psychology. SAGE publications, Inc., Thousand Oaks (2007)
Huang, H.Y.: Examining the beneficial effects of individual’s self-disclosure on the social network site. Comput. Hum. Behav. 57, 122–132 (2016)
Collins, N.L., Miller, L.C.: Self-disclosure and liking: a meta-analytic review. Psychol. Bull. 116(3), 457–475 (1994)
Kim, J., Dindia, K.: Online self-disclosure: a review of research. In: Wright, K.B., Webb, L.M., (eds.) Computer-Mediated Communication in Personal Relationships. New York (2011)
Solano, C.H., Batten, P.G., Parish, E.A.: Loneliness and patterns of self-disclosure. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 43(3), 524–531 (1982)
Berg, J.H., Peplau, L.A.: Loneliness - the relationship of self-disclosure and androgyny. Pers. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 8(4), 624–630 (1982)
Vaclavikova, I., Dikaczova, S.: The manifestations of self-disclosure on social media and their relation to self-esteem and the feeling of loneliness among young people. AD Alta-J. Interdisc. Res. 8(2), 295–297 (2018)
LaRose, R., Lin, C.A., Eastin, M.S.: Unregulated internet usage: addiction, habit, or deficient self-regulation? Media Psychol. 5, 225–253 (2003)
Ellison, N.B., Steinfield, C., Lampe, C.: The benefits of Facebook “friends:” social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. J. Comput.-Mediated Commun. 12(4), 1143–1168 (2007)
Russell, D.W.: The measurement of loneliness. In: Peplau, L.A., Perlman, D. (eds.) Loneliness. A Sourcebook of Current Theory, Research and Therapy. Wiley, New York (1982)
Russell, D.: UCLA loneliness scale (version 3): reliability, validity, and factor structure. J. Pers. Assess. 66(1), 20–40 (1996)
Miller, L.C., Berg, J.H., Archer, R.L.: Openers: individuals who elicit intimate self - disclosure. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 44, 1234–1244 (1983)
Schouten, A.P., Valkenburg, P.M., Peter, J.: Precursors and underlying processes of adolescents’ online self-disclosure: developing and testing an “Internet-attribute-perception” model. Media Psychol. 10, 292–315 (2007)
Song, S.J., Song, X.K., Zhao, Y,X., Zhu, Q.H.: The Mitigating effect of internet use on older adults’ loneliness: an empirical lesson from CHARLS Data. Libr. Inf. 01, 63–69 (2019)
Tencent. https://mp.weixin.qq.com. Accessed 18 Jan 2020
Wendorf, J.E., Yang, F.: Benefits of a negative post: effects of computer-mediated venting on relationship maintenance. Comput. Hum. Behav. 52, 271–277 (2015)
Silverstein, M., Cong, Z., Li, S.Z.: Intergenerational transfers and living arrangements of older people in rural China: consequences for psychological well-being. J. Gerontol. Ser. B-Psychol. Sci. Soc. Sci. 61(5), S256–S266 (2006)
Klamma, R., Lehrstuhl, I.V., Rwth, A., et al.: ACIS: intergenerational community learning supported by a hypermedia afghan sites and monuments database. In: 5th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, pp. 108–112. Taiwan (2005)
Lee, O.E.K., Kim, D.H.: Bridging the digital divide for older adults via intergenerational mentor-Up. Res. Soc. Work Pract. 29(7), 786–795 (2019)
Chen, k.: An encounter between the aged and new media: analyzing the media life under the perspective of positive aging-based on the research of new media classroom in Hefei. Anhui University (2017)
Li, S.X., Zhao, Y.X.: An exploration on the media literacy of digital immigrants under the new media environment: based on the grounded theory analysis of smartphone application. Libr. Inf. Serv. 60(17), 94–102 (2016)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Xu, X., Zhao, Y.(., Zhu, Q. (2020). The Effect of Social Media Use on Older Adults’ Loneliness-The Moderating Role of Self-disclosure. In: Gao, Q., Zhou, J. (eds) Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population. Technology and Society. HCII 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12209. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50232-4_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50232-4_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-50231-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-50232-4
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)