MIRA Trainee Talks: Nicole O’Brien

Published: October 30, 2018 | By Alexis Bullock

Nicole O’Brien, a PhD student in the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University (supervised by Dr. Yufei Yuan), delivered a talk on her work entitled:

“Does Social Networking Site Usage by Older Adults Reduce Loneliness?”

• As older adults age, social connections become fragmented, increasing the likelihood of an individual being lonely.

• Nicole’s research project examines the use of Social Networking Sites by older adults, as well as its impact on enhancing and extending social connections and reducing loneliness.

• Social Networking Sites are online sites that individuals can join by constructing a profile, creating a list of connections (which others may or may not be able to view), and can have the ability to communicate with others through various methods (texting, posting etc.). An example of a Social Networking Site is Facebook.

• The use of Social Networking Sites has been divided into several different categories to give a greater clarity of how individuals interact with Social Network Sites.

• The different categories’ of use are: amount of use, active participation, type and extent of connections, and the type of information shared (private/personal or public).

Contact Nicole (obrien@mcmaster.ca) for more information on her research.

This article was first published by the MIRA Trainee Network. Read the ​original article.​