Loneliness and online creative engagement: Evidence from a national Australian survey
Participation in arts and cultural activities is widely recognised as contributing to people’s wellbeing and social connectedness. In an online environment, people are increasingly going online to share, connect, create and experience arts and culture. This study examines the relationship between engagement in arts and creative activities online and wellbeing, focusing on loneliness. Loneliness is an important public health issue. Existing research has largely emphasised the positive relationship between arts participation and wellbeing, particularly through opportunities for social interaction, expression and community connection. People increasingly participate in online creative activities, which also has a potential for connection, accessibility and emotional support. Less is known about how experiences of loneliness relate to online creative participation, or about how individuals might anticipate feelings of loneliness should they be disconnected from the internet.
Drawing on data from the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes 2024 (n=985), this study examines the relationship between engagement in online creative activities and loneliness. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to assess whether online creative engagement was associated with loneliness after accounting for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. The findings reveal a nuanced relationship between digital creative participation and loneliness. Online creative engagement was initially positively associated with loneliness, indicating that respondents who participate more frequently in creative activities online are also more likely to report loneliness as a serious problem. Younger respondents were also significantly more likely to experience loneliness. However, when feeling lonely without the internet was entered into the model, it emerged as a strong predictor of general loneliness, while the association between online creative engagement and loneliness was no longer statistically significant. Age remained an important predictor, while degree holders reported lower levels of loneliness than those without a degree.
These findings highlight the need for a more nuanced understanding of how online creative participation relates to loneliness. The positive association between online creative participation and loneliness reflects the importance of how creative activities are linked to people’s emotional and social connection to others. When accounting for participants’ self-reports of feeling lonely without the internet, the relationship between online creative participation and loneliness was no longer significant. This suggests that the relationship may be linked to individuals’ general reliance on online environments to connect and interact with others, rather than creative participation itself. Participating in online creative activities may be driven by a person’s loneliness, and their attempt to overcome it through these online activities that facilitate social connection. Digital creative spaces may provide opportunities for expression, connection, entertainment and participation, particularly when offline forms of social connection are limited.
The study contributes to emerging research on digital cultural participation and wellbeing by demonstrating the importance of considering creative engagement along with individuals’ broader experiences of online connection. The findings suggest a more nuanced relationship in which online creative participation may form part of the ways individuals navigate loneliness and maintain social and emotional connections. Future longitudinal research should investigate the potentially reciprocal relationships between loneliness, digital connectedness and online creative participation.
