THE PARADOX OF BEING SEEN: EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERCEIVED ONLINE VISIBILITY, LONELINESS, AND EMOTIONAL ISOLATION AMONG UNDERGRADUATES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS.

In an era of hyper-connectivity, the paradox that individuals who appear highly visible on social media often report profound loneliness and emotional disconnection has gained increasing attention. While much of the existing literature links social media use to loneliness, few studies have examined perceived online visibility, which is the subjective feeling of being seen and recognized online as a distinct psychological predictor, especially in non-Western contexts. This study investigated the relationships between perceived online visibility (POV), loneliness, and emotional isolation among undergraduates at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, and tested whether perceived social devaluation mediated, and visibility-validation discrepancy moderated, these relationships. A cross-sectional survey design was employed with 413 undergraduate students (60% male, mean age bracket 21-25 years) who were active social media users. Data were collected using standardized instruments: a modified Perceived Social Media Features Scale for POV, the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3), the emotional loneliness subscale of the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale, and custom items for mediators/moderators. Analyses included Pearson correlation, multiple regression, and Hayes’ PROCESS macro for mediation (Model 4) and moderation (Model 1). Perceived online visibility was not significantly associated with loneliness (r = -.064, p = .191), failing to support the hypothesis that greater perceived visibility predicts higher loneliness. However, POV directly and positively predicted emotional isolation (b = 0.2105, p = .002). Perceived social devaluation did not mediate this relationship (indirect effect = -0.0381, 95% BootCI [-0.0853, 0.0075]). Visibility-validation discrepancy significantly moderated the POV-loneliness link (interaction b = -0.5837, p = .004), but in the opposite direction: higher discrepancy weakened the (already non-significant) association, suggesting a protective buffering effect. Among Nigerian undergraduates, feeling highly visible online does not increase general loneliness but directly contributes to emotional isolation, likely through performative exhaustion rather than perceived rejection. Awareness of a gap between visibility and actual validation appears to serve as an adaptive mechanism that reduces the emotional investment in online metrics. These findings challenge Western-centric assumptions of universal social media harm and highlight context-specific resilience in a collectivist, high-digital-immersion environment.Keywords: perceived online visibility, loneliness, emotional isolation, social media paradox, visibility-validation discrepancy, Nigerian undergraduates, digital well-being