These unconventional ways of reducing loneliness can be just as effective as meeting others face-to-face.
People can still feel socially connected without leaving the house.
Listening to a favourite musician, watching a much-loved film or enjoying a TV show can all increase social connectedness.
These unconventional ways of reducing loneliness can be just as effective as meeting others face-to-face.
Reminders of friends and family around the house, eating favourite foods and even gaming can help people feel less lonely, the study also found.
People who use a greater variety of strategies to feel connected with others have higher well-being.
Dr Shira Gabriel, study co-author, said:
“I don’t think people realize that these non-traditional connections are as beneficial as we found in our research.
Don’t feel guilty, because we found that these strategies are fine as long as they work for you.”
The study included 173 people who were asked about their social connections and their well-being.
This measured how participants were filling what the authors call their ‘social fuel tank’.
Dr Gabriel explained:
“There’s a basic need for social connections, just as we have a basic need for food.
The longer you go without those sorts of connections, the lower the fuel tank, and that’s when people start to get anxious, nervous or depressed, because they lack needed resources.
What’s important is not how you’re filling the social fuel tank, but that your social fuel tank is getting filled.”
The study’s results showed that listening to music, watching TV, reading books, playing with pets and gaming, among other activities, can all make people feel more social connected.
Ms Elaine Paravati, the study’s first author, said:
“We found that more traditional strategies, like spending time with a friend in person, doesn’t necessarily work better for people than non-traditional strategies, like listening to a favorite musician.
In fact, using a combination of both of these types of strategies predicted the best outcomes, so it might be especially helpful to have a variety of things you do in your life to help you feel connected to others.”
Activities like watching TV used to be called ‘social surrogates’, but the evidence shows they can be just as valuable as seeing others, said Dr Gabriel:
“People had assumed these non-traditional connections weren’t valuable.
In fact, we used to call them ‘social surrogates,’ as if they were a surrogate for a real social connection.
But after researching these connections for so long, we never found evidence that they weren’t valuable.”
Given how many people around the world are following social distancing guidelines, the findings come as good news, said Ms Paravati:
“Symbolic social bonds don’t function as a second-place option to traditional means.
They are an effective way of reaping positive mental benefits.
It’s not about only using them when you can’t access ‘better’ options — these options are helpful to use any time.
…as long as you feel like you’re fulfilling your belongingness needs, it doesn’t really matter how you’re doing it.”
Related
- Banish Loneliness: 10 Simple Techniques To Feel More Connected (P)
- 8 Shocking Ways Loneliness Rewires Your Brain (P)
The study was published in the journal Self and Identity (Paravati et al., 2020).
