Evidence base
Oregon State University
At Best, Social Media Connections Unlikely to Make You Less Lonely
What it found
A study of adults aged 30-70 found that connecting online with strangers is associated with greater loneliness. Connecting online with people already known showed no association with increased loneliness, but also none with reduced loneliness.
Why it matters for practice
This is a useful check against the assumption that online contact substitutes for offline connection when designing loneliness interventions: the data suggest online interaction with existing contacts is at best neutral, and with strangers may be counterproductive. Programme designers relying on digital befriending or online community models should treat reduced loneliness as an outcome to test for, not assume.