How social media use and abuse are related to social cognition and loneliness in older adults.
Social media (SM) offers older adults new avenues for social interaction, yet its relations to social cognition remain unclear given its fundamental differences from face-to-face communication. This study examined how SM use and abuse relate to social cognition, cognitive functioning, and loneliness...
| Publicado en: | European Journal of Ageing Vol. 23; no. 1; pp. 1 - 15 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Springer Nature
5/13/2026
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=195148715&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 195148715 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 16139372 3RAL jtl: European Journal of Ageing issn: 16139372 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 5/13/2026 vid: 23 iid: 1 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 195148715 10.1007/s10433-026-00925-w ppf: 1 ppct: 14 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 775KB tig: atl: How social media use and abuse are related to social cognition and loneliness in older adults. aug: au: Kong, Qiuyi Ruffman, Ted Phillips, Louise H. Yong, Min Hooi affil: https://ror.org/022k4wk35 Bay Area School of Applied Psychological Sciences, Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai, Zhuhai, China https://ror.org/022k4wk35 Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China https://ror.org/01jmxt844 Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand https://ror.org/016476m91 School of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK https://ror.org/00vs8d940 Department of Psychology, School of Law and Social Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK su: United Kingdom Social media Internet addiction Cross-sectional method Sex distribution Social perception Loneliness Psychological well-being Age distribution Social support Cognition Statistical correlation Scale analysis (Psychology) Pearson correlation (Statistics) T-test (Statistics) Descriptive statistics Research Factor analysis Confidence intervals Data analysis software Regression analysis Psychosocial functioning sug: subj: Social media Internet addiction Cross-sectional method Sex distribution Social perception Loneliness Psychological well-being Age distribution Social support Cognition United Kingdom Other Individual and Family Services Statistical correlation Scale analysis (Psychology) Pearson correlation (Statistics) T-test (Statistics) Descriptive statistics Research Factor analysis Confidence intervals Data analysis software Regression analysis Psychosocial functioning keyword: loneliness older adults Psychology and Cognitive Sciences Psychology social cognition social media use theory of mind loneliness older adults Psychology and Cognitive Sciences Psychology social cognition social media use theory of mind ab: Social media (SM) offers older adults new avenues for social interaction, yet its relations to social cognition remain unclear given its fundamental differences from face-to-face communication. This study examined how SM use and abuse relate to social cognition, cognitive functioning, and loneliness in older adults. A total of 529 participants aged 60–89 completed online measures of social cognition, cognitive functioning, loneliness, and social support, along with assessments of SM use and abuse. Four main findings emerged. First, greater SM use and SM abuse were both associated with poorer social cognition. Second, SM abuse, but not general use, was associated with lower cognitive functioning, particularly among adults aged 65 and older. Third, SM use was related to reduced loneliness via higher social support; however, loneliness also strengthened the association between SM use and SM abuse. Fourth, women tended to both use and abuse SM to a greater extent than men. These results suggest that SM might be a double-edged sword for older adults: moderate use is related to social connectedness and lower loneliness, whereas excessive or addictive use is linked to declines in cognitive and social functioning. The findings highlight the need to distinguish between normal and problematic SM engagement and to promote healthy digital habits among aging populations. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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