The Impact of Social Media on Feelings of Isolation During COVID-19 Distancing
Josie McKnight and Adam Plonski
Introduction
Social media is everywhere. With the massive normalization of technology and smartphones sweeping through the world in only the past decade, connecting with friends and family through social media platforms has been incredibly popular, especially in young adults. In fact, 90% of young adults in the United States use social media, with the majority of them visiting these sites at least once a day (Primack et al.). However, high levels of social media usage have been definitively linked to perceived social isolation in young adults and college-aged students. Furthermore, with the onset of the virus causing COVID-19 there has been a substantial increase in social media usage. The combination of the physical distancing necessary to avoid the spread of the virus in conjunction with high social media usage makes many of the health concerns associated with social isolation serious potential threats. To lower the risk of social media induced isolation several suggestions have been made both for individual public health practices and for related improvements to social media platforms.
Social Isolation
Social isolation can be described as lacking a sense of belonging within social situations. This can happen in combination with a decrease in the amount of physical engagement with others as well as a decline in fulfilling relationships (Primack et al.). The repercussions of perceived social isolation on mental health can be catastrophic. These negative impacts can include decreases in both the mental health and the vascular health of a person, which can lead to insomnia, an increase in sympathetic nervous system activity, and aging in the brain and cardiovascular system (Primack et al.). If these symptoms are not combatted, perceived social isolation can in some cases lead to an increase in the risk of mortality.
What does perceived social isolation have to do with social media? The connection comes from the excessive usage of cellphones and social media applications as a form of connecting with friends and family, particularly in the young adult demographic. These platforms are substituting online presence and social media posts for face-to-face contact, limiting both the time spent with others physically, as well as the depth of interaction received. For example, during the times when social media platforms were not as prevalent in our society, one might call up a friend on the phone to ask how they are doing and to keep up with the lives of the people that they care about. While social media makes it far more convenient to keep tabs on others’ lives, these snapshots are full of unrealistic portrayals of what their lives actually are. Pictures are hand-picked to show the most attractive angles, captions only reflect the times when these people are the most happy; rarely do people post about their struggles on social media. The problem is, only seeing these types of posts from people can lead to the false impression that others are living a happier life (Primack et al.). It’s feelings like these, along with emotions such as jealousy and envy, that increase social isolation and can be extremely detrimental to the mental health of a young individual.
If we look at the statistics above, there are clear correlations between the measured time spent on social media platforms and the users’ amount of perceived social isolation (Figure 1). A study done on 1,787 participants aged 19–32 found that the median total time spent on social media was around 61 minutes per day. Compared to the users that used less than 30 mins a day, those that were online for more than 120 mins/day had double the odds for increased amounts of social isolation (Primack et al.). Thus it can be said that an increase in the use of social media will lead to higher amounts of feelings of isolation among young adults and college students.
Increase in Social Media
With the necessity for physical distancing and the shutdown of many businesses during the COVID-19 crisis social media usage has drastically risen. Facebook published some statistics on the increase in social media and app usage on March 24th. Facebook clarified that in countries strongly affected by the virus total messaging has increased by more than 50% throughout February (Schultz et al.). In countries hit particularly hard such as Italy, the increase in social media usage is even higher — Facebook reported a 70% increase in usage time for all of their apps. Within Italy, Facebook also reported a more than a 50% increase in messaging along with a 1000% increase in time spent in group calls; a visual representation of the magnitude of this increase is shown below in Figure 2.
This trend of social media usage increasing more in COVID-19 hotspots has been substantiated by other sources. The consulting firm Kantar reported that as of March, global Facebook usage has increased by an estimated 37%. However, China’s WeChat and Weibo platforms have had a 58% increase in usage (Perez, S). This difference is likely due to the relative severity of the virus outbreak in Asia as opposed to elsewhere, which in turn requires stricter distancing policies and more industry shutdown. Other social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok have also seen increases in use. The influencer agency, Obviously, analyzed 260 of their campaigns including 7.5 million Instagram posts, and data from 2,152 TikTok influencers and found that between February and March their campaigns experienced a 76% increase in Instagram likes and a 27% increase in TikTok engagement (McAteer).
As the outbreak of the virus increases within countries the reliance on social media continually increases. Kantar also reported that WhatsApp usage initially increased by 27% at the start of the virus outbreak, then jumped to 41% now, and in countries that are heavily impacted WhatsApp usage increased by 51%. From this trend it can be reasoned that social media usage will continue to increase, and will only start decreasing as the spread of the virus ceases.
Personality and Isolation
The linear association between increased social media usage and real life isolation has been long established. However, one counterargument to this is that only a small portion of people with certain psychological profiles would be impacted by excessive social media use. This argument is not entirely false; personality does dictate to some extent how heavily impacted people are by excessive social media usage. In 2018, the Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health, within the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine completed a study analyzing how various personality traits impact the link between social media usage and isolation. This analysis was done using the five factor personality model, which has been commonly used throughout related personality research since the late 20th century. Some traits were found to result in lower or higher risk of social isolation with increased social media use. Individuals who scored highly in extraversion and agreeableness were less likely to become isolated as a result of excessive social media usage (Whaite et al.). This makes sense because people who are extraverted tend to be outgoing and energetic, and people who are agreeable tend to be friendly and compassionate. These individuals are more likely to have an active and thriving social life in the first place. Thus, individuals who score high in these traits are less impacted by this trend. However, even agreeable and extraverted people are still at risk of becoming isolated due to excessive social media usage, the risk is simply lower. On the other hand, neurotic individuals were found to be more likely to experience isolation as a result of excessive social media usage (Whaite et al.). This finding also makes quite a bit of sense as neurotic individuals tend to be more prone to negative emotions and anxiety. The personality trait that was found to have the largest impact on this trend was conscientiousness (Whaite et al.). Conscientiousness can be summed up as the tendency to follow rules and schedules and to be hard working. Therefore, it can be expected that conscientious individuals would have planned social interaction which prevents them from falling into a dopamine seeking reward loop and replacing actual interaction with social media usage. Likewise, non-conscientious individuals are much more prone to social media induced isolation. The impact of conscientiousness on the odds of social media induced isolation is shown below in Figure 3.
The x-axis of this figure is daily social media usage time, broken up into four categories. The four categories are in minutes and describe 30 minutes or less, 30 to 60 minutes, 60 to 120 minutes, and greater than 120 minutes of daily social media usage. The y-axis shows an odds ratio representing the likelihood of social isolation. Looking at the data points in Figure 3 represented by triangles it can be seen that for highly conscientious individuals there is no link between social media usage and isolation. However, as shown by the square points, for individuals with low levels of conscientiousness there is a roughly linear relationship between social media usage and the probability of isolation. Therefore, based on this study it can be concluded that aside from individuals who are high in conscientiousness excessive social media usage can result in isolation and thus a multitude of health risks. The likelihood of this occurring does vary with personality, with some individuals being at greater risk and some less. However, the portion of the population that falls into the highly-conscientious category is far from a majority, thus the counter-argument that only a small portion of individuals can fall prone to social media induced isolation is largely false.
Individual Alternatives
The burning question on all of our minds is as follows: what can be done about this? There are certain steps that we can take as individuals in order to combat these impending feelings of loneliness and isolation that come with the physical separation in light of the COVID-19 virus. Only interacting with friends and family through means of social media postings can have extremely negative effects on both a person’s mental and physical health, as discussed earlier. Face-to-face interactions are always the best-case scenario, as this allows us to have true physical engagement and a higher quality of interaction. However, due to the importance of distancing in preventing the spread of the virus face to face interaction is only suggested amongst individuals living in the same household. Abundant familial support is more important than ever with the current physical isolation. The next best option is video chat; this allows us to simulate a normal conversation by hearing another’s voice and seeing their face as the discussion unfolds. Even phone calls and texting serve as better communication devices than purely social media, as the interactions between two people are more genuine, and less likely to be crafted for others’ approval.
Ethical Obligations
In addition to what we can do as individuals, there are also solutions that can be put in place by these social media platforms themselves. TikTok, a video-sharing social media site that has been steadily growing in popularity among the younger generation, has begun implementing in-app systems to increase users’ “digital wellbeing” (Burke). These time management aids appear as videos in a user’s feed and automatically pop up when they have reached a certain amount of uninterrupted time on the app. These videos prompt the user to take a break and remind them to go to bed, get outside, get some food, etc. with the promise that these videos will not disappear when the user is gone. In addition, TikTok has added a Screen Time Management Tool for the purpose of keeping track of the amount of time spent on the app. One can also set time limits for themselves per day. Once the time limit has been reached, they will be notified and can only re-enter the app with a specific passcode that has been set in place (Burke).
Thus, this raises the question: do social media platforms have an ethical obligation to provide similar systems for the well-being of their users?
Some might argue that users spending too much time on a social media platform is not the issue of the platform itself. In fact, this might signify the success of the platform. Why would social media sites create new systems that encourage users to leave their site; does it not seem counterproductive? However, obsessive amounts of use can lead to significantly negative effects on the human mind. Should these platforms not warn users in order to help promote a healthy mindset and promote technological well-being? If not automated warning messages, user-implemented caps could only be used at the discretion of the user themselves, thus not interfering with the platform itself. Above all, more warning about these issues should be put in place as to educate the general public about the dangers of increased amounts of social media usage and what can be done to tame it.
Conclusion
In light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, colleges across the world are being shut down and young adults are being torn away from their friends. Everyone has been on lockdown, isolating themselves in their own home for fear of getting the virus. With both the separation from friends and family as well as the increased amounts of free time now on people’s hands, the pandemic has led to large increases in social media usage across all major platforms. It was seen that social media has already had existing connections with larger amounts of perceived social isolation in young adults. This stems from the decrease in genuine human connection as well as unrealistic portrayals of friends’ lives leading to elicit feelings of jealousy and envy. Now that social media usage has skyrocketed, the implications of the negative effects on the mental well-being of young adults in the United States is daunting to say the least. Therefore there must be solutions put into place in order to combat these rising rates of social isolation. As individuals, we can use forms of contact that simulate face-to-face contact such as video chatting or even phone calls and texting. However, do social media platforms have an ethical obligation to also raise awareness of the dangers of increased social media usage to their users? This might include an excessive use warning that automatically alerts users, or perhaps a use-cap that might be manually set by someone that wishes to limit themselves. We have seen that platforms like TikTok have already begun implementing these types of systems; why haven’t more platforms done the same?
References
Primack, B., Shensa, A., Sidani, J., Whaite, E., Lin, L., & Rosen, D. et al. (2017). Social Media Use and Perceived Social Isolation Among Young Adults in the U.S. American Journal Of Preventive Medicine, 53(1), 1–8.
Whaite, E., Shensa, A., Sidani, J., Colditz, J., & Primack, B. (2018). Social media use, personality characteristics, and social isolation among young adults in the United States.
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McAteer, O. (2020). Coronavirus sparks huge jump in social media use, study finds. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
Schultz, A., & Parikh, J. (2020, March 24). Keeping Our Services Stable and Reliable During the COVID-19 Outbreak. Retrieved April 27, 2020, from https://about.fb.com/news/2020/03/keeping-our-apps-stable-during-covid-19.
Burke, C. (2020). TikTok’s New Screen Time Prompts Remind Users To Take A Breather. Bustle. Retrieved 28 April 2020, from https://www.bustle.com/p/tiktoks-new-screen-time-prompts-remind-users-to-take-a-breather-21816527.
