Billions of people use social media on a regular basis to communicate with friends, co-workers, family, and other loved ones. We have a natural interest and desire in connecting with other people around us and social media has helped to make that possible today in many ways.

The different social media platforms that we find today help us to find different groups that cater to our interests, we can connect and befriend people from anywhere in the world.

But why do we seek to join these social groups? The motivations obviously differ widely from one person to the next. Researchers in India not long ago sought to investigate this question, using surveys they conducted an analysis in different cities around the region. They wanted to investigate what the motivations were for individuals to join a social club or group.

They discovered that among those reasons for seeking community with others in a social group setting, that people were looking for self and social gratification, emotional support, and self-development.

For many who join social media, the main reason that they do so is allegedly to explore and showcase their identity, as well as connect with others and gain that sense of community.

A variety of theories have been proposed for why people seek to identify with and join groups, among them are suggestions that people have an intrinsic need to feel and be socially included and that an individual's personal self-esteem is closely linked with being included and belonging to a group. Another suggestion is that people are motivated out of fear and awareness for their own inevitable death, that pushes them to want to belong. Other suggestions as to why we might feel a need to join groups proposes that it's an effort to reduce uncertainty in the world and regarding ourselves, and that group identification helps to reduce that uncertainty. The individual motivations for wanting to, or not wanting to belong, can be wildly diverse.

But for those who are seeking community, social media has helped them to meet that need and connect with others. While it could also be argued that in many ways it's deteriorated meaningful communication and posed many threats to the well-being of children and those who are exposed to excessive use, there is still plenty of good that it has and continues to help accomplish.

A weak sense of belonging has been linked as a predictor of depression, and researchers have suggested that feeling as if you belong is instrumental in trying to overcome depression.

The Key To Nostalgia Is A Need To Belong

It's interesting that today many people are struggling with feelings of loneliness and wanting to feel as if they belong, and we've also seen an explosion in nostalgia products in the last decade or so; nostalgia caters to that feeling and need of wanting to belong.

When people feel a need to belong, researchers have found that they are more likely to reach for a nostalgic product over a more contemporary option.

Researchers have discovered that when people have felt a heightened need to belong or to feel socially connected with others, that they show a higher preference for nostalgic products.

They suggest that by why watching old episodes of a favorite television show or enjoying old treats that we might have used to enjoy as a child etc, that it could help make us feel better, by filling that void of wanting to feel connected and as if we belong. It's no wonder that nostalgia products and marketing practices are growing increasingly popular these days.

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