The role of social media engagement in alleviating loneliness and improving life satisfaction among senior citizens

Social media has revolutionised the interaction approaches among individuals. Particularly, senior citizens also embrace online platforms in their daily lives. The current study investigates the factors influencing social media engagement behaviour among senior citizens and explores the relationship with life satisfaction. The cross-sectional survey was conducted with self-administered questionnaires through Google Forms to collect data via online platforms. A total of 241 valid responses were analysed via partial least squares structural equation modelling with the SmartPLS version 4 software for model development and hypothesis testing. The results demonstrated that loneliness significantly influenced social media engagement behaviours and highlighted the positive impact of social media engagement behaviour on life satisfaction among older adults. Notably, according to the explanatory power (R2) values, the model explained 38.1% of the variance in sharing engagement behaviour, 23.9% in socialising engagement behaviour, and 24.2% in life satisfaction. Facilitating conditions also contributed to senior citizens' social media engagement behaviours. Nonetheless, facilitating conditions did not significantly moderate the interaction between loneliness and social media engagement behaviour. The present study provided practical implications for social media operators, policymakers, and researchers to promote healthier social media habits and foster inclusive engagement among older adults in the contemporary digital era.