More than half of college students are lonely – and those who use social media the most are particularly likely to feel isolated, a study of tens of thousands of 18 to 24-year-olds in the US shows.

Just 16 hours a week, or two or so hours a day, on social media was linked with higher odds of loneliness, a new peer-reviewed paper in the Journal of American College Health reports.

The study’s authors said that academic institutions should educate students on the effects of social media use and encourage them to set time limits.

Researcher Dr. Madelyn Hill, now an assistant professor at Ohio University, who led the study while completing her doctoral work in University of Cincinnati’s School of Human Services in spring 2025, explains: “We know that people who are lonely are more likely to become depressed. We also know that those who are lonely are more likely to die early.

“Young adulthood is a time of many changes, from leaving home for the first time, to starting college and forming new friendships, and it is vital that colleges and universities do all they can to help their students forge connections with others.”

Previous studies have found that Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat are young adults’ favourite social media sites.

Other work shows that excessive social media use can leave less time for face-to-face socialising. However, research on whether this leads to loneliness has produced mixed results.

To address this, Dr. Hill and colleagues analysed data 64,988 18 to 24-year-olds from more than 120 colleges who took part national survey.

Loneliness was measured by asking them how often they felt left out, lacked companionship or felt isolated.

The study found that:

• 54% of the students were lonely. This is in line with other recent research from the US.
• Female and Black students particularly to say they were lonely.
• Students doing hybrid courses were less lonely than those studying face to face, perhaps because they were still able to see their old friends.
• Members of fraternities and sororities were among the least likely to be lonely, maybe owing to more opportunities to attend parties and other gatherings.
• Those who lived at home were lonelier than those with accommodation on campus.

The students were also asked how many hours they spent on social media in a typical week.

About 13% of them used social media excessively i.e. for at least 16 hours a week and, the more they used it, the higher their odds of feeling lonely.

• Those who used it for 16 to 20 hours a week were 19% more likely to say they were lonely than those who didn’t use it at all.
• 21 to 25 and 26 to 30 hours a week were linked with a 23% and 34% higher likelihood of loneliness, respectively.
• The heaviest social media users (at least 30 hours a week) were 38% more likely to report being lonely.

The study’s authors acknowledge that they can’t be sure if excessive social media use leads to loneliness or vice versa.  They suspect it is a bit of both.  Some students who use social media may become lonely because they have less time to see friends in person. Meanwhile, some of those who are lonely may find valuable support online.

The authors also note that some of the students may have underestimated how long they spend online.

Nevertheless, they believe that tackling excessive social media use could lower levels of loneliness.

Senior author of the paper, Dr. Ashley L Merianos, of the University of Cincinnati, highlights the importance of these findings: “These results underscore how widespread loneliness is among college students and highlight that excessive social media use may be replacing the meaningful interactions that protect their mental health. A key public health strategy to combat this loneliness epidemic is to strengthen social connections and help students build supportive relationships with their peers offline.”

Dr. Hill, whose research specialism is to focus on understanding and improving health behaviours such as social media use among children and young adults, concludes: “Academic institutions should educate college students about the potential negative effects of excessive social media use, including loneliness.

“Helping students understand how excessive social media use can affect their well-being may lead to some of them assessing how much time they spend on it.  They may then cut back on it or even set time limits for themselves.

“Institutions should also work to encourage students to attend social events on campus.”