The academics never consider the fact that an individual may do better socially in different cultures. Everyone ignored me in America, but after living abroad for 8 years in 12 countries, I was shocked how I was able to make more friends with people (men and women) in other cultures. The people who rejected you do not define your own value and worth in this world.

I suspect this research applies more directly to some people than others and I also suspect the only factor of relevance is neuroticism. For example, I am thinking people more prone to anxiety will more likely correspond to this research while there will likely be a mild negative correlation for people with extremely low neuroticism.

If my assumption is correct it would explain why some people find social media to be a strong gravity while others find it to be a dumpster fire.

The results are only true for highly socialized and or normalized people, who become, by definition, uncritical and have low individual agency. A great many people have called them "the 'unthinking' majority" and hackers and engineers are rarely an exception to that rule.

The entire write up is a study in social engineering and how to keep people below _their_ or _an_ in-group maximum average. It's the curse of failing relationships, marriages and so on and a top of the list reason for why from the hippies to festival goers nobody notices that they are expandable factory farmed milking cows whose productivity and constructiveness tastes bad and damages the (social) brain & body. Be like us, dance like us, produce like us, feel like us, talk like us, ... ...