When does social media satisfy the need to belong? Loneliness and Digital Thriving
On May 1st, we held a seminar titled “When does social media satisfy the need to belong? Loneliness and Digital Thriving“. This event was led by Dr. Jeffrey Hall, and was the sixth and final installment in our Loneliness and Well-being Seminar Series.
Has the rise of social media created the loneliness epidemic? Social media use is both a way to spend one’s leisure time and a form of interpersonal communication. Understanding its influence on loneliness requires a more complex understanding of why people use social media and whether it is capable of satisfying the need to belong. This talk will challenge common presumptions of the grave harm of social media and explore why (and for whom) legitimate concerns of its effects on loneliness remain.
Dr. Jeffrey Hall is a Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Kansas, and currently serves as Visiting Scholar at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at the Harvard Law School. Dr. Hall studies the interplay between online and offline communication in the context of personal relationships and social interactions. His 2020 book, Relating Through Technology (Cambridge University Press), received two Top Book Awards from the National Communication Association. His new book The Social Biome (Yale University Press, 2025) focuses on the importance of friendship, high quality communication, and making time for one another. He is the director of the Relationships and Technology Lab at the University of Kansas.
