Mao Jian, Fu Ge-Xi, Huang Jian-Jun
The School of Humanities, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, China.
Key Laboratory of Psychology of TCM and Brain Science, Jiangxi Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, China.
Front Psychol. 2023 Feb 9;14:1108467. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1108467. eCollection 2023.
Social media' impact on loneliness has attracted widespread scholarly attention. One hypothesis is that active social media use (ASMU) is associated with a decrease in loneliness. However, several empirical studies did not find a significant correlation between ASMU and loneliness, and ASMU may even increase loneliness. This study explored the mechanism of the double-edged sword effects of ASMU on loneliness.
Data were collected through convenience sampling from three universities in China. A total of 454 Chinese college social media users (Mean age 19.75 ± 1.33; 59.92% female) completed an online questionnaire.
ASMU was positively related to interpersonal relationship satisfaction, which was negatively related to general trait-fear of missing out (FoMO) and loneliness. Further structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis showed that ASMU could negatively predict loneliness through the mediation pathways of interpersonal satisfaction and "Interpersonal satisfaction → Trait-FoMO." At the same time, ASMU was also positively associated with online-specific state-FoMO, which was positively associated with trait-FoMO and loneliness. Further SEM analysis found no mediation effect of state-FoMO between ASMU and loneliness, but state-FoMO and traitFoMO sequentially mediate the relationship between ASMU and loneliness.
This study indicates that ASMU may increase and decrease loneliness. Interpersonal satisfaction and FoMO explained the double-edged mechanism of ASMU on loneliness. These findings contribute to dialectically understanding the effectiveness of active social media use and provide theoretical guidance for promoting the beneficial aspects of social media while weakening its harmful consequences.
社交媒体对孤独感的影响已引起广泛的学术关注。一种假设是，积极使用社交媒体（ASMU）与孤独感的降低有关。然而，一些实证研究并未发现ASMU与孤独感之间存在显著相关性，而且ASMU甚至可能增加孤独感。本研究探讨了ASMU对孤独感产生双刃剑效应的机制。
通过便利抽样从中国三所大学收集数据。共有454名中国大学生社交媒体用户（平均年龄19.75±1.33岁；59.92%为女性）完成了一份在线问卷。
ASMU与人际关系满意度呈正相关，人际关系满意度与一般特质性错失恐惧（FoMO）和孤独感呈负相关。进一步的结构方程模型（SEM）分析表明，ASMU可以通过人际关系满意度和“人际关系满意度→特质性FoMO”的中介路径对孤独感产生负向预测作用。同时，ASMU也与特定于网络的状态性FoMO呈正相关，状态性FoMO与特质性FoMO和孤独感呈正相关。进一步的SEM分析发现状态性FoMO在ASMU与孤独感之间不存在中介效应，但状态性FoMO和特质性FoMO依次中介了ASMU与孤独感之间的关系。
本研究表明，ASMU可能增加也可能减少孤独感。人际关系满意度和FoMO解释了ASMU对孤独感产生的双刃剑机制。这些发现有助于辩证地理解积极使用社交媒体的有效性，并为在削弱社交媒体有害影响的同时促进其有益方面提供理论指导。
