Influence of Self-Esteem and Loneliness on Online Communication

Ligeng Zhang

Major in Radio and Television Director, Inner Mongolia Honder College of Arts and Sciences, 010000, China

Keywords:

Big Data, Internet Communication, Loneliness, Internet Use, Self-Esteem.

Abstract:

With the vigorous development of online communication, big data has gradually entered the people's field

of vision, and our thinking and behavior habits are quietly changing. Self-esteem and loneliness, as a unique

psychological feeling of human beings, are also agitated with our own innovation. How does self-esteem

and loneliness play a role in online communication? What impact did it have? These questions aroused

people's thinking. The purpose of this article is to study the influence of mutual self-esteem and loneliness

on online communication. This research starts from online communication, analyzes and investigates the

factors of online communication preferences, compiles online social preference measurement tools, explores

the influence of self-esteem and loneliness on online communication, and analyzes the two different social

supports of real social support and online social support the role of style in the relationship between online

communication preferences and self-esteem and loneliness. This study uses quantitative research methods to

explain the online social status of adolescents with strong self-esteem and loneliness, and supplements the

interview method in qualitative research methods to further understand the reasons for the formation of

adolescents and loneliness, as well as the influence of self-esteem and loneliness on the Internet Whether the

interaction behavior has an impact. The survey results show that 75% of teenagers’ loneliness is within the

range of strong loneliness, and 23% of teenagers’ loneliness is within normal levels, indicating that most

teenagers are still very lonely in the environment of online communication.

1 INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, the application of big data in all walks of

life is in full swing, and everyone is exploring the

value of big data, and social networks are an

important position for data generation. (Xia, 2019;

Social Science Computer Review, 2019) Nowadays,

network communication plays an increasingly

important role in people's lives. It has gradually

integrated into people's daily life and has become a

part of people's daily life. (Szczeniak, 2020; Zhang,

2019)

And with the participation of more and more

individuals, companies, groups, etc., social networks

have gradually become a window for people to

obtain information, show themselves, and promote

marketing. (Du, 2018; Iskender, 2018) Network

communication is an extension of real social

interaction in virtual space, and it is also a

supplement to real communication. (Kareen, 2018;

Bachnio, 2018) However, the many undesirable

phenomena that accompany it are also increasingly

noticeable. Self-esteem and loneliness are

unpleasant emotional experiences when individuals

are unable to satisfy the quantity and quality of their

own social interactions. (Andrzej, 2019; Pilar, 2019)

Research on the influence of self-esteem and

loneliness on online communication has become the

focus of research in the fields of psychology and

pedagogy.

In the research on the influence of self-esteem

and loneliness on online communication, many

scholars have conducted in-depth analysis and

achieved good results. For example, Xue Y explored

the relationship between online social networks

OSNs (onlinesocial networks) and loneliness, and

developed A model was developed to explain the

influence of relationship characteristics (such as

self-disclosure and network ability) and OSN

characteristics on the perception of loneliness. The

results show that the degree of online network use is

negatively correlated with loneliness, that is, more

online social networks are used, and loneliness is

greater. (Xue, 2018) Based on the questionnaire

survey samples, Arianna used descriptive statistics,

factor analysis, and correlation analysis to conclude

that “on the one hand, loneliness prevails among

netizens in my country. The stronger the sense of

Zhang, L.

Inﬂuence of Self-Esteem and Loneliness on Online Communication.

DOI: 10.5220/0011731100003607

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Public Management, Digital Economy and Internet Technology (ICPDI 2022), pages 105-111

ISBN: 978-989-758-620-0

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

105

loneliness, the deeper the dependence on the

Internet, the deeper the application of various

functions of the Internet, the overall use of the

Internet helps to weaken the feeling of loneliness of

Internet users. (Arianna, 2019)

This article first uses questionnaire surveys to

investigate the current status of online social

interaction of young people, including online social

objects, social content, social motivations, and social

channels. The data application of online

communication behavior in the era of big data is

used to explore and analyze self-esteem and

loneliness. Strong and weak network interactions

and interpersonal relationships change. Furthermore,

the UCLA loneliness scale was used to investigate

the loneliness of urban youth living alone in the

online social environment. At the same time,

through the interview method, we have in-depth and

supplemented the understanding of whether young

people's online communication can help alleviate

loneliness, and whether face-to-face social

interaction or online social satisfaction is better. This

research also puts forward countermeasures on how

to alleviate loneliness when interacting online.

2 THE INFLUENCE OF

SELF-ESTEEM AND

LONELINESS ON ONLINE

COMMUNICATION

2.1 Relationship Between Self-Esteem,

Loneliness and Online

Communication Preferences

Subjectively, the non-face-to-face nature of online

communication will reduce social anxiety and

self-awareness, and bring people more positive

subjective experiences such as safety, effectiveness,

and self-protection, but objectively, the intermediary

nature of online communication itself, the absence

of the body leads to the lack of non-verbal cues in

the social process, reduces the amount of

information resources in the social process, and

limits the establishment of effective interpersonal

relationships.

The public's understanding of the various

characteristics of online communication and their

own positive views on online communication are

significantly related to their gaining more

instrumental support. The richer the actual

interpersonal relationship and social support

resources, the individual will hope to extend this

good state to network communication, thus forming

a preference for network communication that is

consistent with the actual support resources. The less

the subjective experience of being respected,

supported, and understood in real social life, the

worse the real social ability. This may be because it

is difficult for individuals to obtain good

interpersonal relationship experience in social life,

resulting in insufficient social confidence, and thus

Hindered the development of its social skills.

Preference for online communication will bring

about the negative consequences of loneliness, but

preference for online communication does not

necessarily bring about the negative consequences of

loneliness. This effect is not direct. The preference

for online communication will come through the role

of online social support. Affecting loneliness will

also affect loneliness through real social support.

Therefore, although the preference for online

communication may have many negative

consequences, if the individual has a good real social

support system and his various needs and supports

can be met in online communication, it may not be

easy to feel lonely negative consequences.

Moreover, online communication preferences can

influence individual online social support through

real social support, which better explains that online

communication is the extension and expansion of

real social in virtual space.

2.2 Measures to Regulate the Use of the

Internet and Reduce Loneliness

2.2.1 Develop Good Surfing Habits

First, make a schedule for surfing the Internet. For

young people with poor self-control in using the

Internet, if necessary, they can restrict themselves by

planning their time online. Develop a weekly or

monthly online schedule, indicate the specific time

period and specific items for using the Internet, and

strictly follow the table time to access the Internet.

Second, clarify the purpose of surfing the Internet.

Before going online, teenagers do not think they will

be addicted to the Internet, but once they enter the

Internet, they are out of their control and

unconsciously attracted by things on the Internet.

Therefore, when you have a clear goal, you can

choose to go online. If the goal is achieved, you will

leave the network and avoid sinking.

ICPDI 2022 - International Conference on Public Management, Digital Economy and Internet Technology

106

2.2.2 Be Aware of Network Security

First of all, it is necessary to learn to distinguish and

choose carefully in terms of obtaining online

information and online dating. The information on

the Internet is mixed. Because of their inexperience

in society, young people are easily deceived by false

information and used by people with ulterior

motives. When using the Internet, you must be

vigilant and always give yourself some

psychological hints to help you maintain a high

degree of self-consciousness when surfing the

Internet, be able to distinguish right from wrong, and

use the Internet safely.

Second, there must be a sense of self-protection.

The most basic thing in the interaction between

people is mutual trust, but this kind of trust is greatly

compromised on the Internet. In the process of

online communication, basic personal information is

not easily disclosed to strangers, and invitations to

netizens cannot be accepted casually to prevent

being deceived.

Negative emotions in life are inevitable, but

being in a lonely and dull environment is harmful to

the individual's physical and mental development.

Therefore, we must learn to adjust bad emotions and

turn pessimistic emotions into a driving force for

progress. Don't escape when facing difficulties and

setbacks, build self-confidence, hone your will, and

laugh at life with a positive and optimistic attitude.

2.2.3 Cultivate Hobbies

First of all, you can regulate personal loneliness by

developing your own hobbies. Finding one's area of

interest can, to a large extent, help oneself relieve

the mood and enjoy the body and mind. Being able

to participate in outdoor activities will not only help

you divert your attention to other new things, but

you can also meet more friends with the same

hobbies. Re-energize yourself and devote yourself to

learning and other activities with full enthusiasm.

Second, arm the brain with knowledge, enrich

the spiritual world, and constantly improve and

upgrade oneself. Finally, scientifically plan your life

and rest time. Loneliness is often waiting for

opportunities when there is little or nothing to do in

the society. Regular time arrangements can not only

allow us to orderly engage in learning, entertainment

and other matters, but also improve work efficiency.

Make your life fuller, thus develop a healthy

lifestyle, and help reduce feelings of loneliness.

2.2.4 Actively Interact with Others

First of all, you need to take the initiative to open

yourself up and put it into continuous action.

Second, actively participate in outdoor or indoor

competitions. Group activities can mobilize

enthusiasm, explore one's potential in cooperation

with others, reshape one's self-image, and improve

oneself.

Finally, coordinate the relationship between

network communication and actual communication.

As an aid to actual communication, network

communication has opened up another world for

young people and brought great convenience.

However, after all, it cannot replace reality, cannot

be captured by the network, and be the master of the

network.

2.3 Online Social Network Sampling

Algorithm: MHRW Algorithm

The MHRW algorithm prefers to accept low-level

nodes while rejecting high-level nodes to avoid the

deviation caused by high-level nodes being sampled.

Therefore, low-level nodes will be oversampled. The

transition probability is:

𝑃

,











∙𝑚𝑖𝑛(1,









)

1 −

∑

𝑃

,





(1)

Here v is the seed sampled from the OSN under

study, and w is a neighbour of v and may be

sampled with probability in the next step.

HRW is proved to converge to uniform

sampling, that is, the sampling probability of each

node in the graph is 1/|v|, and the randomized jump

parameter p is added to the MHRW algorithm, that

is, the Albatross Sampling algorithm. AS has a

shorter convergence time than MHRW and BFS. In

large social networks with few effective user IDs,

the cost of sampling jumps will be very high. The

transition probability from node u to v is:

𝑃

,



⎩

⎪

⎨

⎪

⎧

𝑚𝑖𝑛(

















1 −𝑃−

∑

𝑚𝑖𝑛(













)











(2)

Inﬂuence of Self-Esteem and Loneliness on Online Communication

107

3 EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH

ON THE INFLUENCE OF

SELF-ESTEEM AND

LONELINESS ON ONLINE

COMMUNICATION

3.1 Research Methods

This study uses a questionnaire survey method to

make a quantitative analysis of the adolescents’

online social interaction status. The questionnaire

topics involved the youth’s online social profile; the

UCLA network communication loneliness scale was

used to measure the degree of loneliness of

adolescents; compared with face-to-face social

interaction, adolescents’ online social satisfaction.

The survey of this network interaction takes the

whole country as the survey area.

3.2 Questionnaire Design and

Interview Design

3.2.1 Design of Online Communication

Questionnaire

This study uses a questionnaire survey method to

make a quantitative analysis of the current status of

adolescents’ online social networking. The

questionnaire topics involved adolescents’ online

social profile; UCLA loneliness scale was used to

measure the degree of loneliness of adolescents;

compared with face-to-face social interaction,

adolescents’ online social satisfaction. This survey

took the whole country as the survey area.

3.2.2 Interview Design

Starting from understanding whether online social

interaction can help young people alleviate their

loneliness, the interview outline for the year of

adolescence involves four parts: one is the cause of

young people’s loneliness and how to solve or

alleviate it; the other is the frequency of youth’s

online social interaction and the whether online

social interaction can help alleviate feelings of

loneliness; third is the comparison of teenagers’

satisfaction with face-to-face social interaction and

online social interaction; fourth is whether there is

online autism.

3.2.3 Survey of Questionnaire

In this survey, a total of 300 questionnaires were

distributed online, and the complete answer rate of

the questionnaire was 100%, because the

questionnaire emphasized that non-teens do not need

to fill in, and those who do not use social networking

do not need to fill in. Therefore, the total number of

valid questionnaires obtained in this survey is 300,

and the effective rate of the questionnaire is 100%.

Of course, it is not ruled out that there are people

who do not meet the conditions to fill in, and the

questionnaire still has errors.

4 EXPERIMENTAL DATA

ANALYSIS ON THE

INFLUENCE OF SELF-ESTEEM

AND LONELINESS ON ONLINE

COMMUNICATION

4.1 Self-Esteem and Loneliness

According to the scoring standard of the UCLA

Loneliness Scale, a score of more than 44 indicates a

strong sense of loneliness, a score less than 28

indicates a weak sense of loneliness, and a score of

33-39 indicates that the sense of loneliness is at a

normal level. After analyzing 300 adolescents’

loneliness scale, the following data are obtained:

75% of adolescents’ loneliness is within a strong

range of loneliness, and 23% of adolescents’

loneliness is within a normal level. The loneliness of

the remaining 2% of urban youth living alone is in a

weak range. The specific results are shown in table

Table 1: Self-esteem and loneliness.

Self-esteem and loneliness 21-25

ears ol

—

ears ol

Ver

lonel

75% 69%

Loneliness is normal 23% 15%

Loneliness is wea

2% 16%

Strong sense of self-estee

67% 76%

Normal self-estee

24% 18%

Low self-estee

9% 6%

ICPDI 2022 - International Conference on Public Management, Digital Economy and Internet Technology

108

Figure 1: Self-esteem and loneliness.

Table 2. Distribution of main social objects of self-esteem and loneliness.

Social objects Strong normal weak

Family members 43.24% 56.15% 63.36%

Classmates and friends 21.22% 82.36% 82.50%

Work colleagues 57.14% 69.12% 61.05%

Business, industry, or mutual

interest relationship

50.00% 30.00% 32.45%

stranger 85.71% 12.10% 3.10%

other 13.24% 3.00% 5.40%

As can be seen in Figure 1, in terms of age, the

21-25 age group has a higher score for loneliness,

which may also be due to the large proportion of

respondents in this age group. It may also be

because teenagers of this age are at a critical stage of

career struggle, so they are busy in their careers and

do not have time to socialize, so the degree of

loneliness will be higher. In addition, most

adolescents have a strong sense of loneliness in the

online social environment. Only a small number of

adolescents have a normal level of loneliness, and a

very small number of adolescents have a weak sense

of loneliness.

4.2

Influence of Self-Esteem and

Loneliness on Online Social Objects

This study investigated the influence of self-esteem

and loneliness on social objects on the Internet. The

survey results show that the main social objects of

teenagers with strong self-esteem and loneliness are

strangers, the main social objects of teenagers with

normal self-esteem and loneliness are classmates

and friends, and those with weak self-esteem and

loneliness are also classmates and friends. The

specific results are shown in table 2.

According to Figure 2, the stronger the

self-esteem and the sense of loneliness, the social

frequency of adolescents and relatives and fellow

villagers is decreasing. This further proves that the

self-esteem and loneliness of the adolescents

mentioned above have increased, and their network

interactions show the characteristics of weaker

relationships and stronger social relationships. The

stronger the sense of loneliness, the stronger the

social relationship between young people living

alone in the city and their "relatives and fellow

villagers" gradually decreases.

75%

23%

67%

24%

69%

15%

16%

76%

18%

Very lonely

Loneliness is normal

Loneliness is weak

Strong sense of self-esteem

Normal self-esteem

Low self-esteem

percentage(%)

Self-esteem and loneliness

21-25 years old

26—30 years old

Inﬂuence of Self-Esteem and Loneliness on Online Communication

109

Figure 2: Distribution of main social objects of self-esteem and loneliness.

5 CONCLUSION

By understanding the status quo of adolescents’

Internet use, self-esteem, and loneliness, I found that

Internet use has a strong correlation with self-esteem

and loneliness. The Internet is an almost

comprehensive display of real life, it reflects the real

social relationships on the Internet, and meets some

of people psychological and social needs. Many

people do not have specific guidance and clear

restrictions on the use of the Internet, and they tend

to abuse the Internet and use it uncontrollably.

Guiding everyone to use the Internet reasonably is

conducive to the development of healthy personality.

Especially adolescent children are psychologically

sensitive, which can easily lead to problems such as

psychological disorders, and poor social interactions

can easily lead to emotional anxiety. And it is in the

critical period of peer communication and the

formation period of interpersonal relationship. It is

necessary to correctly guide them to establish a

healthy view of communication and shape a healthy

personality. Taking measures from the parents,

students themselves and the school to help young

people alleviate their loneliness, it will help them

develop a good attitude and face life with a positive

attitude.

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