EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA USE AND LONELINESS ACROSS DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS: THE MODERATING ROLE OF SELF-CONTROL

Abstract

Loneliness is an emerging clinical issue with dangerous mental health implications such as depression, anxiety, and a risk of suicide. Despite the fact that social media offers new ways of connection, its psychological consequences vary according to the patterns of usage and personal variations. The current research examines the interplay between loneliness and social media use that has relatively few studies within the age group and the potential of social media as a moderating factor in this group; specifically, Self-control. A quantitative cross-sectional study design was used, and 362 participants were recruited, categorized as follows: adolescents (13-18), young adults (19-29), middle-aged adults (30-49), and older adults (50) to collect data. The results show that the younger age groups, the adolescents and young adults, have high levels of loneliness and use the media more often than the older adults, who have better self-control. Pearson correlation tests showed that there was a moderate positive correlation between the use of social media and loneliness but on the contrary, self-control was correlated with the two variables negatively. The hierarchy regression analyses have shown that self-control has an important moderating effect on this relationship: its positive relationship between the use of social media and loneliness is the strongest among people with low self-control. Conversely, increased levels of self-control serve as psychological buffer, which dilutes the relationship. These findings underline the importance of the developmental variations because the protective influence of self-control became most noticeable among the younger groups. These findings can be clinically used to support interventions based on improving self-regulatory competencies and digital literacy to reduce loneliness and promote psychological resilience in digital times.