Loneliness and Social Media: A Mixed Bag — Letters that should have been in the new york times

1.3.25

To the editor:

While Jessica Grose questions the legitimacy and helpfulness of the surgeon general's labeling loneliness an epidemic in 2023, she mentions only in passing the complex role of the internet and social media (Embracing the joys of solitude, 1.3.25). Social media not only keeps 'aloneness' at bay, as she states. For some it also serves to keep loneliness at bay as communities can be created in the virtual world that are more difficult to cultivate in real life. This may be particularly the case for marginalized folks in more isolated regions. At the same time, the omnipresence of social media can stir up feelings of loneliness because the virtual landscape can be addictive, superficial, and even cruel. Misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia, and pornography are rampant and expose young people to attitudes that influence how they relate to people in their day to day.

It is important to keep in mind that social media platforms are for profit businesses. They will always be with us. Digital media literacy should be taught early and often; social media should complement not substitute for relationships in the flesh.

Respectfully

Larry S Sandberg

Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry

Weill Cornell Medical Center