Online social connections as surrogates of face-to-face interactions: A longitudinal study under Covid-19 isolation

Recent theoretical perspectives proposed that online social connections could benefit human well-being when face-to-face interactions are impeded. However, the literature lacks empirical tests of this proposition, especially those considering online and face-to-face interactions simultaneously. This longitudinal study (N = 1113) investigated how face-to-face and online connections interacted in protecting from psychological distress comparatively throughout three stages of isolation severity imposed during COVID-19 lockdown. Results showed that online social connections protected from psychological distress under the most restrictive isolation stages, particularly those with lower face-to-face interactions. However, during the last mild isolation stage, online relationships did not foster well-being. Thus, online social connections effectively substituted offline interactions and protected from the harm of social isolation. However, their benefits could be limited in time and to highly restrictive isolation conditions, extending our knowledge on the boundary conditions of online social connections as surrogates of face-to-face relationships.