Gratifications, chronic loneliness and Internet use

Abstract

This study examined how chronic loneliness is associated with gratifications‐sought and its effect on Internet use. Results from a telephone survey of 864 Internet users of 16‐years of age or older found that surveillance, affection, and social interaction were strongest instrumental use of the Internet followed by ritualized use such as entertainment, escape, and arousal. The proposition that the chronically lonely derive fewer gratifications from Internet use than do the situationally lonely and the nonlonely people was not supported. Moreover, no consistent patterns of ritualized or instrumental use of the Internet were found when comparing the chronically lonely and the nonlonely groups. However, the hypothesis that chronically lonely persons will report less active use of the Internet such as using e‐mail, surfing the WWW, reading online news, and playing online games than do the situationally lonely and the nonlonely persons received much support. Finally, regression results show that instrumental gratifications were more predictive of Internet activities for the nonlonely group than the lonely group. Implications of loneliness on Internet use in Chinese culture are discussed.