Today provided a fun opportunity to discuss our student group’s loneliness and Facebook research with an audience far from home–via Mike Blanchard’s “Calgary Today” show on AM 770 CHQR. Their news producer had asked me to respond to an article in the Atlantic that suggested that the ubiquitous connectedness technology provides today might actually be making us more lonely, rather than less.
I'm the Underlined Part of Mike Blanchard's Show
In my 15 minutes on the air, I tried to explain that the Atlantic had some things correct and others not. Our research confirms the idea that loneliness is highly negatively correlated with the number of self-reported confidants a person has. The fewer the confidants, the higher the person’s score on the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell, 1996). We use the full 20 question version, but you can see a short version here. In our regression analysis, the other factor that really pops in predicting loneliness is a person’s total face-to-face time spent with friends and family. Time spent on the cell phone or on Facebook was not significantly correlated with loneliness at all.
Our differences of opinion with the Atlantic occur in the contribution of social media and technology to loneliness. True, during the same decades that people’s reported number of confidants dropped like a stone, there was a steady increase in the use of technology. But our research does not show that people who report high amounts of face-to-face contact are less likely to spend a lot of time on their cell phones and Facebook. This is not an either-or situation. We are dealing with college students of course, and ALL of them seem to spend a lot of time on cell phones and Facebook.
If anything, I suspect that having cellphone conversations and Facebook might actually soften some feelings of loneliness. We just don’t have the data to evaluate this idea yet. One of my daughters just returned from a year’s deployment in Iraq, and felt that Facebook made it much easier for her to feel connected to her friends and family.
One of the callers to the show did make a valid point–some people reduce the quality of their face-to-face time with others by constantly taking cell phone calls in the middle of conversations, etc. But this, to me, is simply bad manners.
I did enjoy the way Mike moved the conversation along–it was easy, and hopefully entertaining. What really astonished me, as a Californian who bundles up for any temperature under 60 degrees, was the weather report for Calgary that was on while I was on hold before the show. Zero degrees? I just don’t do zero degrees!
4 Comments
Leslie Ryan · February 15, 2010 at 6:26 pm
I read the article “Loneliness in Numbers” in the Antlantic Monthly, listened to your Calgary Today news interview, and I took the loneliness test. Whew!
I scored 15 on the loneliness test. As I have gotten older, I have grown increasingly comfortable with having just myself for company. I can choose: alone or with a friend. I am lonesome for male companionship, however.
I have recently signed up for FaceBook. I followed my brother’s advice “KEEP YOUR FRIEND LIST SHORT!” Even being a cautious FB user, the other night I realized I was perusing entries on FB instead of taking the opportunity to invite my neighbor for dinner. I was doing the very thing I have cautioned my children about. “There is no substitute for warm bodies!” Warm bodies mean face-to-face contact where we are “seen” and we can “see” others.
When my daughter was still at home, she had many friends she would IM with (sometimes 8 at a time!). She had some social anxiety issues and avoided social situations that way. One day she wrote a paper for Cuesta about the danger of IM and avoiding Face-to-Face friendships. One of her realizations was there is a lack of realness because the person isn’t “seeing” you and you aren’t “seeing” them. She extolled the virtues of “warm bodies” to develop close relationships (close confidants). When she let me read her graded paper, she said “Just read it mom. No comments.” 🙂
We are less vulnerable Tweeting than we are sitting down over coffee or even on the phone.
My pastor tried an experiment in social connectedness. He used Twitter and a blog. He had a specific purpose in mind, but after 6 months he abandoned his Twitter account because he had become increasingly preoccupied and distracted with it: What will I Tweet next; who just Tweeted me; OH, this will make a good Tweet; replying to Tweets. It was a disaster. He didn’t even have time for his blog. He now blogs a couple of times a week and has found a healthy balance with that.
When I’m with others, I seldom answer my phone. Sometimes I will ask if they mind if I see who is calling and I’ll check that. When my phone is ringing and I ignore it, the person I’m with will ask “Do you need to get that?” “Nope. I’m with you right now.” Invariably, they smile.
I, too, have wondered if people are lonelier with all of the social media options. I guess the more important question is why do people in general have fewer close condifants? Why is that happening?
I enjoyed your interview. You just flowed along so easily.
Jyso · February 28, 2010 at 5:32 pm
I think i agree with the study, that internet and communication pathways such as facebook, im, twitter and the like really do cut down on “real” social interaction and i feel like they would increase loneliness. (however this is just my opinion as i’m not obtaining the data to prove my point). There is just something that is different about having a face to face conversation with someone rather than casting thoughts out to the world at large and hope for someone to hopefully make a connection with you. for one, it is much harder to keep a good conversation going sometimes and thus pushes us whereas im gives us the opportunity to come and go within conversations as we please, effectively reducing our ability to cope socially. Im and facebook are laziness manifest in a new media(of course though, i’m not immune to these virtual pathogens).
This study reminds me of a speech i was listening to recently. The speaker said that when you are having a conversation or especially in an argument, women need face to face contact whereas men don’t, really. He gave the example that he and his wife were having an argument and he was not looking at something else, the floor maybe or something. when she couldn’t take it anymore, she grabbed his chin and said, “listen to me with your face.” That stuck with me and i thought that somewhat applied to this study because i think people need face to face contact.
I have started making use of this concept and when i talk with my girlfriend, i make sure to listen with my face.
Jason
MaddieFoster · March 7, 2010 at 4:38 pm
It is interesting that there is no data to deal with cell phone use. My cell phone is attached to my side constantly for those “just in case” moments. But this little device also helps me keep in touch with friends from back home and across the country. When I have a bad day, my friend in Virginia can make it 100 times better just from a phone. Those phone calls reduce my personal loneliness. Hopefully soon some data will be seen to actually prove this.
Laura’s Psychology Blog » More Attention for Our Student Facebook Research · February 20, 2010 at 11:40 am
[…] fun to do research, but it’s even more fun when people find what you do interesting. We have had a lot of attention for the Facebook work that our group of stalwart student researchers have done over the last year […]
Comments are closed.