Research reveals that having friends on social media may not actually reduce feelings of loneliness.

Research reveals that having friends on social media may not actually reduce feelings of loneliness.

      My Discord friends and I feel attacked.

      While social media serves as a means to connect people, a recent study indicates that it might not be effectively surrounding you with loved ones or alleviating loneliness. Researchers at Oregon State University conducted a study with over 1,500 US adults aged 30 to 70, examining the relationship between various types of social media connections and feelings of loneliness. The results? Acquaintances you have not met in person might actually be exacerbating the issue.

      How online strangers might contribute to the problem

      According to the findings, social media interactions with individuals whom users have never met in real life were frequently associated with increased feelings of loneliness. Furthermore, it was revealed that 35% of participants’ social media connections consisted of people they had never encountered offline. In contrast, the researchers discovered that online connections with people already known in real life did not correlate to heightened loneliness, but they also did not decrease it.

      In essence, even familiar contacts on social media may not deliver the emotional satisfaction people anticipate.

      The limitations of close online connections

      Brian Primack, the lead researcher, suggested that individuals feeling lonely should critically evaluate their interactions with online strangers, even if those connections seem close. He emphasized that prioritizing in-person relationships is more crucial than those formed on social media.

      Compounding the issue are relationships. Co-author Jessica Gorman pointed out that virtual interactions can lead people to idealize the friendships of others, which can intensify social comparison. This phenomenon is heightened with those you’ve never met face-to-face, as there’s no real-life context to counterbalance the online impressions.

      Most studies on social media have focused on adolescents and young adults. However, this research is distinct as it examines midlife and older adults, a demographic that constitutes a significant portion of the US population and is heavily engaged with social media.

      The best advice I ever took was deleting Instagram, and it relieved my frustrated soul.

      I can’t deny that I became addicted to Instagram. For a long time, I was unaware of how much it was affecting my mental state. It may sound overblown, but it really snuck up on me. I became so accustomed to watching Instagram reels constantly that my brain lost its capacity for patience with anything longer. Watching a complete YouTube video felt like a commitment, and reading without checking my phone felt impossible. The worst part was that I understood exactly why it was happening.

      I tried to correct it in typical ways—setting app timers, using apps that restrict doomscrolling, and promising myself I would cut back. Some days were successful, but most days were not. I would still find myself opening Instagram mindlessly. So one day, I decided to stop trying to manage it and deleted the app from my iPhone. Honestly, that single decision did more for me than everything else I had attempted.

      Vine is back from the dead, and it's called Divine.

      The six-second videos that launched countless creators are returning and this time, they're here to stay. Vine has made a comeback, and if you're feeling nostalgic, you're not alone. Divine, a reboot of Vine backed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, is now on the App Store and Google Play. The app reinstates around 500,000 archived Vine videos and allows creators to once again share new six-second looping clips.

      According to TechCrunch, Dorsey's nonprofit, "and Other Stuff," funded the initiative. He isn't looking for a profit from this investment; instead, his objective is straightforward: to rectify the mistake he made when he shut down Vine in 2017.

      Social media scams resulted in over two billion dollars in losses for consumers last year.

      Facebook scams accounted for consumer losses as social media fraud rose significantly in 2025.

      Social media has emerged as America's leading hub for scams. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported that consumers experienced $2.1 billion in losses from fraud on these platforms in 2025, an increase of eight times over the past five years. Nearly one in three victims of fraud indicated that the scam originated on a social platform.

      Why is Facebook a primary target?

Research reveals that having friends on social media may not actually reduce feelings of loneliness. Research reveals that having friends on social media may not actually reduce feelings of loneliness. Research reveals that having friends on social media may not actually reduce feelings of loneliness. Research reveals that having friends on social media may not actually reduce feelings of loneliness. Research reveals that having friends on social media may not actually reduce feelings of loneliness. Research reveals that having friends on social media may not actually reduce feelings of loneliness. Research reveals that having friends on social media may not actually reduce feelings of loneliness.

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Research reveals that having friends on social media may not actually reduce feelings of loneliness.

A recent study involving over 1,500 adults discovered that online interactions with unfamiliar individuals were associated with increased feelings of loneliness, whereas face-to-face interactions did not show a definitive decrease in loneliness levels.