An August 2016 release from the university explains that Jeffrey Hall, associate professor of communication studies, found that people are actually quite adept at discerning the difference between using social media and having an honest-to-goodness social interaction. The results of his studies appear in the journal New Media & Society.

The release quotes Hall as saying,”There is a tendency to equate what we do on social media as if it is social interaction, but that does not reflect people’s actual experience using it. All of this worry that we’re seeking out more and more social interaction on Facebook is not true. Most interactions are face to face, and most of what we consider social interaction is face to face.”

According to Hall, social media is more like old-fashioned people watching. “Liking” something is similar to a head nod. It’s not social interaction, but it’s acknowledging you are sharing space with someone else.

“Keeping tabs on other people sharing our social spaces is normal and part of what it means to be human,” Hall said.

Hall is no stranger to research on social media. New Media & Society published an earlier study of his that found people can accurately detect the personality traits of strangers through Facebook activity.

In his current paper in the journal, Hall details three studies. The first demonstrates that when using social media, most of us are engaged in passive behaviors that we don’t consider social interaction, like browsing others’ profiles and reading news articles.

The second diary study demonstrates that most of what we consider social interaction with people in our close circle of friends happens face to face. When interaction with these close others is through social media, it’s not something passive like browsing or “liking” but rather using chat or instant message functions.

Here’s where it gets interesting, Hall said. The first study found that chatting and commenting — things that we would even consider social interaction — are but 3.5 percent of our time on social media.

The third study had participants contacted at random times throughout the day. This study drives home how adept we are at separating social media use with social interaction. People reported 98 percent of their social interactions took some other way than through social media.

“Although people often socially interact and use social media in the same time period, people understand they are different things,” Hall said. “People feel a sense of relatedness when they’re interacting face to face, but using social media does not make them feel connected.”

All three studies, Hall said, circle around the idea that we still value face-to-face time with close others for the purpose of talking.

“If we want to have a conversation, we’re not using social media to do it,” he said.

The findings speak to a broader anxiety that many still have regarding social media.

“There’s a worry that people are seeking out more and more social interactions on Facebook and that social media is taking over our face-to-face time,” Hall said. “I’m saying, ‘Not so fast.’ People use social media to people-watch and still seem to enjoy a good face-to-face conversation.”

A release from the association quotes DePaulo as saying, “The preoccupation with the perils of loneliness can obscure the profound benefits of solitude. It is time for a more accurate portrayal of single people and single life – one that recognizes the real strengths and resilience of people who are single, and what makes their lives so meaningful.”

DePaulo cited longitudinal research that shows single people value meaningful work more than married people do, and another study that shows single people are also more connected to parents, siblings, friends, neighbors and coworkers. “When people marry, they become more insular,” she said.

However, research on single people is lacking, DePaulo claimed. She searched for studies of participants who had never married and, of the 814 studies she found, most did not actually examine single people but used them as a comparison group to learn about married people and marriage in general.

The studies that did focus on single people revealed some telling findings, she said. For example, research comparing people who stayed single with those who stayed married showed that single people have a heightened sense of self-determination and they are more likely to experience “a sense of continued growth and development as a person,” DePaulo said.

Another study of lifelong single people showed that self-sufficiency serves them well: The more self-sufficient they were, the less likely they were to experience negative emotions. For married people, the opposite was true, according to DePaulo.

There are more unmarried people than ever before in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2014, there were 124.6 million unmarried Americans over age 16, meaning 50.2 percent of the nation’s adult population identified as single, according to BLS. In contrast, only 37.4 percent of the population was unmarried in 1976.

Married people should be doing a lot better than single people in view of the number of laws that benefit them, DePaulo said, but in many ways, they aren’t. “People who marry get access to more than 1,000 federal benefits and protections, many of them financial,” she said. “Considering all of the financial and cultural advantages people get just because they are married, it becomes even more striking that single people are doing as well as they are.”

Despite the advantages of staying single, DePaulo doesn’t claim one status is better than the other. “More than ever before, Americans can pursue the ways of living that work best for them. There is no one blueprint for the good life,” she said. “What matters is not what everyone else is doing or what other people think we should be doing, but whether we can find the places, the spaces and the people that fit who we really are and allow us to live our best lives.”

And no wonder. For most of us, the stark contrast between the bustle of the married-with-children years and the eerie calm of being a widowed or divorced empty nester comes as an unwelcome shock. One 60-something put it this way: “I don’t have anybody to play with. I’m fine during the workday, but evenings and weekends are bad. There’s nobody to go out to dinner with or to a movie. There’s nobody who says ‘How was your day?’ ”

Does that sound familiar? Then read on for some strategies to put the joy and the health benefits of companionship back in your life:

Reach Out and Help Someone

Much has been written about the “helper’s high” phenomenon that happens when you make a difference in the lives of others. You get a genuine rush of endorphins, the happy hormones, and you may very well end up connecting in a truly meaningful way with the people you meet while you’re volunteering. As a start, visit Idealist.org and Guidestar.org for lists of causes and charities that might be a good fit with your skills and passions.

Join a Group or a Club

A book club, a scrapbookers club, a bridge club, a Mahjong club, an amateur thespians group – these and many other possibilities can become pleasurable ways to get out of the house, meet others, challenge your brain, and share a good laugh or two. You’ll have a reason to pick out a great outfit, do your hair and make-up, turn off the TV, and spend fewer hours talking only to the cat!

Take a Class

The beauty of paying tuition in full is that once you’ve plunked down your hard-earned money, you’re very likely to make the effort to get to the sessions for whatever course you’ve picked. You could sign up for anything from Conversational French to Photography to Memoir Writing or you could kill the proverbial two birds with one stone and get yourself into an exercise class. No matter what you choose to pursue, your classmates are pretty much guaranteed to share your interest. That’s a built-in icebreaker for forming fresh and lasting friendships. Incidentally, don’t rule out getting close to people of all generations. Being with someone your own age who shares your memories of decades past can be nice, but being around younger people is interesting as well. Also, pals who are older than you are may give you a wonderful life perspective. So go ahead and mix it up!

Consider Online Dating 

Even if you currently feel that you don’t want to get married again, and even if you’re not ready for a romantic relationship, the dating sites can be a boon for your social life. You may find a man who shares your interests and is comfortable with a friendship status that doesn’t involve, well, getting involved. You may also get to know some terrific women who could become your BFFs. Of course, you might surprise yourself and find the next love of your life. Here at ThirdAge, we have a safe and effective site called www.BetterDate.com. Why not give it a try?

A final note: Loneliness is often worse during holidays or when anniversaries of important life events roll around. With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, you may be thinking about hiding out rather than looking like a loser on an occasion when men are rushing past you carrying bouquets of roses and heart-shaped boxes of candy. That’s understandable, but this may be the perfect time to face down your feelings of solitary confinement by trying one of our suggestions for getting back in the game. The ideal is to find the perfect balance between the sweet solitude you wished for back when you were busy with your family and the comfort that comes from having people in your life who care about you. With a little effort, we know you can do just that!

Sondra Forsyth is Co-Editor-in-Chief ThirdAge.com.