Prospective, Directional Associations Between Social Media Intensity and Loneliness in Adolescence

We investigated the relationship between social media and loneliness in early adolescents in Perú across 15 months of COVID-19 lockdowns (grades 6–8; 56% female in May 2020). Cross-sectional analyses with data from May 2020 (n = 1613) found that higher social media intensity was associated with higher feelings of loneliness. In a longitudinal follow-up study (n = 455), we investigated bidirectional associations in May 2020, November 2020 and July 2021, and found that feelings of loneliness in girls were associated with a subsequent increase in social media intensity. Social media intensity was not associated with changes in feelings of loneliness in either gender. Our findings with adolescents in low- and middle-income urban settings in Perú underscore the importance of longitudinal research and contribute to understanding these issues globally.