Alone and Online: Understanding the Relationships Between Social Media, Solitude, and Psychological Adjustment

Emerging adults are heavy users of smartphones and social media, a behavioral trend that may disrupt the experience of solitude and decrease the corresponding benefits for mood regulation and identity development. This study used the experience sampling method to assess the associations between solitude, social media use, and psychological adjustment in the everyday lives of 69 college students and to investigate whether individual differences in extraversion and the preference for solitude influenced these associations. Cluster analyses showed that high-functioning introverts with high identity development and low loneliness were more likely than extraverts and low-functioning introverts to spend time truly alone without using social media, and they exhibited the lowest social media use in general. Analyses using covariance pattern modeling indicated that, contrary to expectations, participants were happier when on their devices, particularly when they were alone but preferred to be with people. These findings illustrate both the appeals and pitfalls of social media and device use. Although our moods may improve from using social media during solitude, chronic device use when alone may inhibit identity development and other psychosocial developmental tasks.