A cross-sectional study of social media addiction and social and emotional loneliness in university students in Turkey.

Purpose: This study investigates the relationships between social media addiction and social and emotional loneliness in university students.

Methods: This is a descriptive, correlational study. Data were collected from 555 university students. The study data were then collected through an online survey. The data were analyzed using the descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test, the Kruskal Wallis analysis, and Spearman correlation.

Results: Higher and statistically significant levels of loneliness were found in males, single students, students displaying poor academic performance, and learners who perceived their economic situation as worse than the other groups (p ≤ 0.005). A positive and significant relationship association was noted between the aggregate social media scores of students and their total loneliness scores (r = 0.196 p = 0.000) (p < 0.05).

Practice implications: Social skills training should be provided to young social media users. Young people should be offered social support resources and ways to reduce loneliness, such as listening to music, exercising, and doing yoga.