Loneliness is a subjective feeling of lack in quality and/or quantity of social contacts. A similar but related concept is social isolation, which is the objective measure of the quality and/or quantity of social contacts someone has. Current research shows that loneliness is a prominent issue that could lead to impaired mental and physical well-being. Therefore, interventions combating loneliness are needed. The current study speculated that a stronger social support network could be built or accessed by using the online communication methods of calling and texting, which could then lead to a weakened relationship between social isolation and loneliness amongst students. 

The current study aimed to examine whether social isolation and loneliness were associated with each other, and whether calling and/or texting would moderate the relationship between social isolation and loneliness. This was done by first performing a linear regression, and then performing two separate moderation analyses on a sample of university students (N = 257, 79% female, M age = 20.1, SD age = 3.6). 

A significant relationship between social isolation and loneliness was observed. However, neither calling nor texting had significant moderation effects on the relationship between social isolation and loneliness. Future studies should examine whether the contents, recipients, and duration of calls matter in weakening the relationship between social isolation and loneliness. Furthermore, it is suggested to examine whether video calling is a viable way to weaken the relationship between social isolation and loneliness.