Internet Use and Its Relationship to Loneliness

TLDR

The study examined how Robert Weiss's bimodal theory of loneliness relates to Internet use. Loneliness was measured with the Social and Emotional Loneliness scale and compared to self‑reported Internet use and the size of online and face‑to‑face friend networks. Higher face‑to‑face friend networks correlated with lower social and emotional loneliness, whereas greater Internet use correlated with lower social loneliness but higher emotional loneliness, supporting evidence that Internet use can reduce social well‑being.

Abstract

The association between Robert Weiss's bimodal theory of loneliness and Internet use was examined. The degree of social and emotional loneliness was assessed using the Social and Emotional Loneliness scale. This was compared with self-report measures of Internet use and the breadth of one's network of friends, both online and on a face-to-face basis. Low levels of social and emotional loneliness were both associated with high degrees of face-to-face networks of friends, while high levels of Internet use were associated with low levels of social loneliness and high levels of emotional loneliness. This supports recent research that has found that the Internet can decrease social well-being, even though it is often used as a communication tool.