Mediating roles of self-esteem and positive childhood experiences in the relationship between problematic social media use and loneliness.

Summary: Spending too much time on social media can make college students feel lonely. Why does this happen? Researchers asked 464 students about their screen habits, childhood memories, self-worth, and feelings of being alone. They found that heavy social media use is tied to lower self-worth and fewer happy childhood memories. This drop in positive feelings leads to even more loneliness. The good news? Building up a person's self-worth and focusing on happy early memories can help protect them from the lonely feelings caused by too much screen time.