Active SNS users have a higher rate of feeling lonely... Prominent in people over 60

Loneliness among users who felt left out on SNS was 37.5%... Otherwise 22.4%

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Jandi Kim = It has been found that people who actively share their daily lives on social networking services (SNS) such as Instagram and Facebook are more likely to feel lonely than those who do not.

According to the medical community on the 5th, Professor Min Kyeong-bok's research team at Seoul National University College of Medicine's Department of Preventive Medicine confirmed this fact by analyzing the relationship between SNS use and loneliness among 34,142 adults living in Seoul (average age 52.3 years) who participated in the '2024 Seoul Survey'.

Among them, 25,134 people used SNS, and 9,08 people did not use SNS.

The researchers asked whether people felt lonely in relationships with family or people outside of their families, and if they answered yes to either, they classified them as feeling lonely.

28.2% of all survey subjects responded that they felt lonely. By age, those in their 20s had the lowest rate at 22.8%, and among those over 60, it rose to 33.5%.

SNS users who actively shared their daily lives felt lonely at 30.1%, which was higher than those who did not (23.3%).

Similar results were found among users who made social comparisons or felt alienated on SNS.

34.4% of users who felt happier than themselves when looking at other people's SNS posts, and 37.5% of users who felt left out responded that they felt lonely. Users who did not feel lonely were 22.9% and 22.4%, respectively.

In particular, the relationship between active sharing of daily life and loneliness was not statistically significant in those aged 20 to 59, but was clearly evident in those aged 60 or older.

The research team pointed out that these age-specific results suggest that older people may be more vulnerable to the negative aspects of SNS use and the need for customized guidance for healthy SNS use.

The research team said, "SNS use behavior, which can be problematic, was strongly linked to loneliness," and "It appears that older people are particularly vulnerable, so there is a need for education and intervention tailored to their behavior and specific population groups."

The research results were published in the International Journal of the Korean Society of Preventive Medicine (Journal of preventive medicine and public health).