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College students frequently engage with social media to see what family, friends, and the community are up to. While this might seem like a great way to feel connected, a new study found just the opposite.
Excessive social media use among college students is strongly associated with self‑reported feelings of loneliness and isolation, a University of Cincinnati study has found.
“Despite the intention of social connection, social media platforms may not provide college students with the necessary social fulfillment to combat loneliness,” the study found.
Published in February in the Journal of American College Health, the study had crunched the social media use data of 64,988 students ages 18 to 24 at more than 120 four-year universities.
The results? “Students who used social media at least 16 hours a week — averaging more than two hours a day — had significantly higher odds of reporting loneliness,” a news release from the university stated.
One key reason why social media use is linked to increased loneliness is because it has replaced real, face-to-face interaction in many cases, said University of Cincinnati health promotion and education Professor Rebecca Vidourek, a co-author of the study.
“Social media is used as a substitute for human interaction rather than a supplement,” Vidourek told The College Fix. “That can contribute to feelings of isolation and loneliness.”
She also said cyberbullying or other forms of online abuse can lead to feelings of loneliness or isolation. What’s more, the professor added, social media use is linked to “Fear of Missing Out.”
“[T]he more an adolescent or college student compares themselves to idealized social media posts, the worse the loneliness and depression can be,” Vidourek told The Fix.
The odds of loneliness increased with more time online, the researchers also found.
Up to 20 hours per week was linked with a 19 percent higher likelihood of loneliness; up to 25 hours a week saw a 23 percent increase in loneliness; and students using social media for 30 or more hours per week were nearly 38 percent more likely to report loneliness, according to the study results.
Researchers cautioned that the study does not prove causation, meaning it’s unclear whether social media use causes loneliness, or if lonely students tend to spend more time online looking for connection.
Still, the researchers said the association is strong enough to warrant concern and interventions, such as time limits.
“Social media is a subjective experience, and because of that, every individual should assess their own social media use,” Professor Madelyn Hill told The College Fix in an email. “Time limits require individuals to set the limits themselves.”
Hill conducted the research while completing her doctoral work at the University of Cincinnati’s School of Human Services and currently is a professor of instruction at Ohio University.
She said there are some efforts administrators can undertake to help students help themselves.
“While time limits are individually based, schools can focus on increasing the knowledge of the potential impacts of excessive social media use and could provide information on how to set time limits on specific social media platforms,” she told The Fix.
Vidourek told The Fix that, with time limits, “I always encourage my students to set personal limits.”
“After that, I recommend building in additional limits such as Screen Free Sundays, putting the phone away after a certain time of day, or not reaching for the phone first thing in the morning.”
The study’s findings tend to align with broader research showing that loneliness is widespread among college students, not just or only a side effect of today’s digital culture, Inside Higher Ed reported March 4.
“A recent report from Trellis Strategies, based on data from Trellis’s 2024 Student Financial Wellness Survey of nearly 44,000 college students, found that 57 percent said they felt lonely—45 percent sometimes and 12 percent always. Just 15 percent reported never feeling lonely,” IHE reported.
Some solutions universities have developed include offering the library as a place of community, or creating lounges and other venues on campus that can generate “in real life” time among students, the outlet reported.
“Young people are more socially isolated than ever before,” Vidourek said.
“Encouraging young people to join at least one social activity — school club, sports, community organization, anything of interest — helps to increase social interactions and develop connections with others,” she told The Fix. “This also can have the side effect of reducing screen time and social media use.”
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