The stakes of loneliness extend far beyond fleeting moments of discomfort, according to a growing body of academic research. вЂњThere tends to be a relationship between social media and lonelinessвЂќ in some research, Litt said, вЂњbut those studies canвЂ™t answer for us: Is social media causing loneliness? Are lonely people coming to social media?вЂќ UsersвЂ™ life experiences, such as big moves or romantic breakups, may affect the data, she added. The companyвЂ™s shares lost more than a quarter of their value the next day.Д¬ontinuing to understand loneliness is key to the companyвЂ™s goals, said Eden Litt, a director on MetaвЂ™s internal research team. 2, Facebook reported that its user base stopped growing, and shrank in some markets, for the first time. The conflicting results make it difficult to prescribe what kinds of product changes could benefit FacebookвЂ™s users. But 42 percent said they felt both more and less lonely after using the app. вЂњPeople who spend much less or much more time are lonelier.вЂќ When users who are already lonely turn to Facebook, 41 percent said it made them feel better, and just 6 percent said it made them feel worse. вЂњPeople who spend about an hour a day are the least lonely,вЂќ it says. One key data point relates to how much time users spent on the service, the report found. Other experiences reduced loneliness, like вЂњseeing something funny or entertaining,вЂќ the research found. But people also said using Facebook increased loneliness more than other activities its researchers surveyed, including video games and TV. Facebook use made people feel вЂњless lonelyвЂќ than some other activities, like using Twitter or dating apps. Another study from November 2018, also in HaugenвЂ™s cache of documents, found that certain Facebook experiences increase loneliness - like seeing вЂњnegative posts or hurtful comments,вЂќ seeing friends having fun without you, or seeing posts that lead to social comparisons. Internal researchers acknowledged that MetaвЂ™s social networks could be exacerbating loneliness instead of alleviating it. Loneliness was also more common with men than women. Haugen, responsible for leaking a large cache of internal documents, was selected by the Joe Biden administration to attend the State of the Union address, where the president underscored the need to вЂњhold social media platforms accountable for the national experiment theyвЂ™re conducting on our children for profit.вЂќ The study, based on in-depth interviews with 53 people, found loneliness was most common with young people, age 13 to 24, a key demographic that Meta is targeting for both Facebook and Instagram. Regulators, meanwhile, are already probing whether MetaвЂ™s Instagram harms young people.ДЄn internal study from September 2018 found that more than a third of Facebook users - approximately 36 percent - reported feeling lonely in the past month, according to documents disclosed by Frances Haugen, a former product manager.

Internal research shows that a given feature - such as one that shows people photo memories - can spark feelings of connection for some and sadness for others. Meta wants to address the problem but doesnвЂ™t know how. But internally, employees are questioning their productsвЂ™ impact on mental health. вЂњWe change the game when we find each other,вЂќ reads a tagline for one of its recent commercials. Meta has promoted its role as a digital connector, running ads touting its groups and messaging products. Loneliness has come into sharper focus at Meta during the COVID-19 pandemic, as people use its social media apps as alternatives to in-person experiences. As the company struggles to retain and add users for its already-massive social networks, making sure those people are happy is key to MetaвЂ™s financial success. Meta, with a mission to help people connect online, has discovered through internal research that its products can just as easily have an isolating effect. But engineers and researchers at the company, now called Meta Platforms Inc., are still grappling with the thorny problem the experimental robot cat was designed to combat: loneliness. The creators gave Max little ears and whiskers so the device would be more fun and approachable, like a cat. Shaped like a small, upside-down bowl, Max was designed to be a companion - a physical device humans could talk to that could detect their mood, according to two people familiar with the hackathon project. When Facebook hosted an internal competition a few years ago to develop new product ideas, a handful of employees teamed up to build a robot named Max.

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