In 2023, the US Surgeon General issued an advisory titled Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation, declaring loneliness and isolation a public health crisis. The advisory outlined the devastating impact of loneliness on individual and societal health and listed the increased risk of health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, and premature death resulting from loneliness.

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, while people of any background can experience loneliness, those facing the greatest barriers to social connection include people with poor physical or mental health, financial insecurity, those who live alone, and young or older adults. The elderly are particularly at risk of experiencing social isolation due to the aging process, which can result in disabilities that inhibit individuals from connecting with their communities. Older adults who live alone are at a higher risk of experiencing loneliness, which is concerning given that 27 percent of adults aged 60 and older live alone in the US, according to the Pew Research Center.

Access to the internet could either counteract or increase the risk of experiencing loneliness. While its use allows for enhancing and developing new social connections that could reduce loneliness, a study in Perspectives on Psychological Science suggests that internet use can also exacerbate loneliness due to individuals’ difficulty interacting in person and withdrawal from the social world. Using data from CDC Places and the Milken Institute’s Community Explorer, we find that which effect predominates is likely to depend on the characteristics of the population.

We compare two types of communities (i.e., sets of counties) from the Milken Institute’s Community Explorer: “retiree communities” and “isolated seniors.” While both are characterized by a relatively high concentration of the population aged 65 years and older, they differ in aspects such as income and living conditions. Retiree communities are characterized by a high proportion of veterans and have a predominantly White middle-income population. Isolated seniors consist of counties with relatively less-educated and lower-income households where the 65+ population is more likely to live alone. The counties in the “isolated seniors” community also have a high proportion of people living with disabilities and limited access to digital infrastructure. A comparison of these two community types enables us to examine the factors influencing loneliness in the elderly population in the US.

In terms of the internet, we find that people living in the “isolated seniors” community are more susceptible than those in “retiree communities” to the socially enhancing effects of online access. Among people 65 and older, a one percent increase in internet access is associated with a statistically significant 0.12 percentage point decrease in loneliness for those living in the “isolated seniors” community. In contrast, we find no significant association between internet access and loneliness in the “retiree communities.” These results are obtained after controlling for median income, education, and insurance coverage, implying that the physical isolation resulting from living alone could be a mediating factor for the effects of the internet on loneliness. Residents in the “isolated seniors” community, who are more likely to live alone, appear to use the internet as a tool to alleviate feelings of loneliness by maintaining online connections with friends and family.

While perhaps unsurprising, this finding indicates that among older adults who suffer from physical isolation, the internet might serve as a tool to combat loneliness. Interestingly, we also find that all observed variables (including health insurance coverage and household income) are more strongly correlated with loneliness among the “isolated seniors” than the “retiree communities,” suggesting that living alone may serve as a lens through which loneliness is magnified. These findings are particularly important for states like New Mexico and Texas, which are home to many counties that form the “isolated seniors” community, some of which have poor internet access (as shown in Figure 1). Targeting interventions to increase internet access for seniors in these areas could significantly reduce loneliness among this vulnerable group.

Figure 1. Distribution of “Isolated Seniors” Counties Across the US, by Level of Internet Access