Social Network, Facebook Use and Loneliness: A Comparative Analysis Between Public and Private University Students in Bangladesh

Abstract

The study mainly explores the level of real life social network, Facebook use and loneliness of the university students in Bangladesh. In addition, the study examines the factors affecting loneliness of the students. To achieve these objectives, the study uses primary data collected from 380 students and employs several methods. Firstly, the study employs Lubben Social Network Scale and UCLA loneliness scale to measure the level of real life social network and loneliness, respectively. Secondly, the study uses a linear regression model estimated through OLS method to find out the factors affecting loneliness of the students. The study finds that although aggregately students are averagely engaged in real life social network in the study area, public university students are relatively more engaged in real life social network than that of private university students. The study also finds that aggregately students in the study area suffer from loneliness moderately where private university students suffer more than that of public university students. Moreover, the study finds that the level of loneliness is increased by 3.27 and 3.47 if students use Facebook one hour more per day and students read in private university, respectively while the level of loneliness is decreased by 4.61 if the level of real life social network is increased by one. Therefore, the study suggests the students to be careful in using Facebook and to be engaged more in real life social network in order to get rid of the adverse effects of loneliness.