Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 4, 2026

Loneliness Assuaged: Eye-Tracking an Audience Watching Barrage Videos
Published on: May 29, 2020
Comparative loneliness of users versus nonusers of online chatting
Chorng-Shyong Ong1, Shu-Chen Chang, Chih-Chien Wang
1Department of Information Management, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Abstract:
Online chatting is an important component of improving interpersonal relationships online, but it may reduce participants' communication time with family members. We conducted a study of the relationship between participants' intent to engage in online chatting and three dimensions of loneliness: social, familial, and romantic. This study was designed to show the effect of online chatting on each of these three dimensions of loneliness. The participants in the study were 709 students at two universities in Taiwan who were classified on the basis of whether or not they had ever engaged in online chatting. Of the participants, 651 (91.82%) fully completed the questionnaires that served as the study instruments and were included in data analysis. The study found that individuals who had participated in online chatting exhibited greater familial loneliness than those who had not because the time spent in online chatting reduced the time spent in familial relationships. Social loneliness was related to the quality of Internet relationships rather than to the time spent online. Individuals who participated in online chatting had less romantic loneliness because of a greater ease of maintaining romantic relationships online. We conclude that online chatting can reduce social loneliness through high-quality Internet relationships but may exacerbate familial loneliness.
Related Concept Videos
Relationship Formation
Social Relationships and Well-Being
Social Foundations of Self IV: Self in Digital Communication
Factors Influencing Attraction I: Proximity
Cross-Sectional Research
Sources of Self-Esteem III: Social Comparison
