Face-to-face contact may still be the most important way to reduce loneliness

Loneliness has recently been declared a pressing health issue by the World Health Organisation. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed innovation in the accessibility and use of digital socialization and communication technologies. However, the role these technologies play in alleviating loneliness, particularly across different age groups, remains unclear. 

Published in the International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, Dr Lidan Zheng, Dr Brooke Brady and Professor Kaarin Anstey from the School of Psychology at UNSW Sydney, Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) and the UNSW Ageing Futures Institute conducted a study to examine patterns of social technology use and their relationship to loneliness among young, middle-aged, and older adults. 

They collected survey data on social technology use and preferences from 1079 adults aged 18 to 90 in October 2021 through online panels in Australia and found different patterns of social technology use and preferences as well as varying associations with loneliness among the three age groups. 

For example, the results showed that the frequency of socialising in person and phone calls were associated with a 22%-30% decrease in odds of being lonely for middle aged and older adults but not young adults. The number of people participants talked to on virtual platforms was associated with decreased odds of being lonely for young and middle age adults while for older adults, this effect only applied to people they spoke to face-to-face. Social media use (both active and passive use), was also linked to increased loneliness in older adults in our sample. 

“Our findings provide valuable insights into the preferred modes of social contact among different generations as well as the impact of different types of social contact on loneliness” said Dr Lidan Zheng. “Overall, face-to-face interactions emerge as the most significant form of contact, both in terms of subjective preferences and their effectiveness in reducing loneliness for middle-aged and older adults, but the results also demonstrate that various forms of virtual contact can be effective in alleviating loneliness when in-person interactions are not available.”