Meta is about to make some hefty payouts to state governments—over $17 billion in total. The parent company of Facebook and Instagram recently settled a lawsuit (brought by nearly every state’s attorney general) alleging their platforms don’t do nearly enough to prevent teen social media addiction. As part of the settlement, the company is promising to do more to prevent their products from harming children. Now, a new study published in npj Mental Health Research is showing a potential path forward.
A team of psychologists from University of California San Diego convinced 415 undergraduate students to give them access to the data from their Instagram accounts, including all of their photographs, captions, likes, and comments they’d ever posted. Most previous studies have relied solely on publicly available data, so getting access to private accounts—which more than 60 percent of the students used—gave the researchers a more comprehensive look at everyday behaviors. The students also completed questionnaires designed to measure their feelings of loneliness.
Read more: “This Giant Waterlily Species Was Discovered Via Instagram”
The team then used machine learning to parse the data and identify patterns, comparing the students’ activity to their self-reported loneliness measures. “What’s remarkable is that we can identify patterns associated with something as personal and difficult to observe as loneliness,” study author Sherry (Yueyi) Jiang said in a statement. “By looking at photos, language, and everyday activity together, we can pick up on subtle clues that might otherwise go unnoticed.”
So what are these subtle clues?
According to the team, those who reported feeling lonely were more likely to use a profile photo featuring an upward head tilt, less likely to post photos with faces, and tended to use past-tense language in captions (like “was” and “had”).
Of course, not all loneliness is the same. The researchers distinguished between the students who experienced emotional loneliness, or the lack of meaningful connections, and social loneliness, the feeling of being disconnected from a community of friends or family.
While both groups shared the aforementioned hallmarks of general lonely posting, the emotionally lonely had profile pics expressing sadness or anger, tended to post more at night, used more negative language, but also referenced friends or family more often. The socially lonely were stingier with their likes and comments, posted less often on weekends, and used fewer words expressing appreciation (like “thank” and “care”).
The team says because someone’s posting behaviors seem to offer insights into their emotional state, it could provide an opportunity for social media platforms to intervene. For example, late-night negative posting could trigger a message prompting users to reach out and seek help. Better understanding the dimensions of loneliness could tailor these suggestions to individual users’ experiences.
“Loneliness isn’t a one-size-fits-all experience, and neither are the solutions,” study author Piotr Winkielman explained. “Someone who feels disconnected from a broader community may benefit from more opportunities to socialize, while someone who lacks a close emotional connection may need a very different kind of support.”
Whether any changes get implemented—and whether they’re effective—remains to be seen.
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