A Study Of The Relationship Between Media Use And Loneliness Among Rural Elderly

Since China entered an aging society,the proportion of elderly people has been increasing.The accelerated population mobility between urban and rural areas and the disintegration of the traditional family model have led to the phenomenon of "hollowing out" in rural areas to varying degrees,and loneliness has become the norm for rural elderly.In the information age,rural elderly rely more and more on the media for their life and entertainment,and the ubiquitous media influence their emotions and behaviors implicitly,and loneliness as a psychological reflection may also be influenced by the use of media.The study took W village in Shanxi Province as the sample collection place and selected the elderly aged 60 and above as the research object.Based on the data obtained,a linear regression model was developed to investigate the relationship between media use and loneliness among rural elderly.At the same time,considering the limited nature of quantitative research,the paper selected 20 representative elderly people in W village for in-depth interviews to corroborate and supplement the quantitative research results and draw more comprehensive and profound conclusions.It was found that there was a significant,negative and stable correlation between TV use and loneliness,a significant,negative and stable correlation between the use of short video app and loneliness,and a negative correlation between the use of social app,comprehensive information app and online video app and loneliness,but the relationship would be unstable under the effect of other factors.Among the demographic factors,the correlation between marital status and health level and loneliness was negative and stable.Among the social support factors,the correlation between child visitation,friend contact and loneliness was negative and stable,and the correlation between neighbor contact and loneliness was unstable.Based on the quantitative study,the article further investigated the characteristics of media use among the elderly in W Village through in-depth interviews,and explored the underlying motives of the association between media use and loneliness.The development of media technology has extended the functions of media,and the information and emotional needs of rural elderly have been met to a greater extent.Based on the results of quantitative and qualitative research,the paper proposes the following two thoughts: firstly,in traditional media,TV use may have an important impact on alleviating rural elderly’s loneliness,and TV platform should pay more attention to rural elderly’s content preferences and emotional needs,and provide more quality TV content with temperature in the future;secondly,the use of new media has greater potential in alleviating rural elderly’s loneliness,and new media platforms should optimize interactivity and socialization,increase the linkage mechanism with offline activities,strengthen emotional connections,and strive for aging-appropriate exploration in the future.