Chronic loneliness and television use

Abstract

The study examined how chronic loneliness influenced local news and soap opera viewing. We hypothesized that chronic loneliness relates to reduced interpersonal interaction, increased electronic media use, and passive television use. The discriminant analysis distinguished chronic loneliness from nonloneli‐ness by: (a) lesser use of interpersonal channels and greater use of electronic media channels, especially television and movies; and (b) pass time viewing motivation. We discussed the implications of the results and related the findings to the links between personal and mediated communication.