The Relationship between Social Media Usage, Loneliness, and Mindfulness in College Students

The Relationship between Social Media Usage, Loneliness, and Mindfulness in College Students

Poster - Applied

In recent years, both social media usage and loneliness have been increasing for young adults. While previous work has revealed a relationship between social media usage and loneliness among young adults, the purpose of the current study is to examine if mindfulness mediates this relationship and if different types of social media engagement moderate this relationship. We hypothesize that higher social media usage will be related to higher loneliness, which will be mediated by lower mindfulness, and that specific types of social media engagement will moderate the relationship between higher social media usage and higher loneliness. Participants will complete a survey on the Social Connectedness Instrument, UCLA 3-item Loneliness Scale, Social Media Engagement Survey, and the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale. Additionally, participants will provide screenshots of their phone screen time and app usage for the past two weeks. Their survey results and phone screen time will be analyzed to see how social media affects loneliness and how mindfulness mediates loneliness. The study is currently collecting data; therefore, results and conclusions are pending. Possible implications of the research are creating mindfulness techniques to combat loneliness and increase awareness of the effects of social media usage, specifically concerning loneliness. Future research will examine the effectiveness of different mindfulness techniques.