Social media use and adolescent sleep patterns: cross-sectional findings from the UK millennium cohort study

Abstract

ObjectivesThis study examines associations between social media use and multiple sleep parameters in a large representative adolescent sample, controlling for a wide range of covariates.DesignThe authors used cross-sectional data from the Millennium Cohort Study, a large nationally representative UK birth cohort study.ParticipantsData from 11 872 adolescents (aged 13–15 years) were used in analyses.MethodsSix self-reported sleep parameters captured sleep timing and quality: sleep onset and wake times (on school days and free days), sleep onset latency (time taken to fall asleep) and trouble falling back asleep after nighttime awakening. Binomial logistic regressions investigated associations between daily social media use and each sleep parameter, controlling for a range of relevant covariates.ResultsAverage social media use was 1 to <3 hours per day (31.6%, n=3720). 33.7% were classed as low users (<1 hour; n=3986); 13.9% were high users (3 to <5 hours; n=1602) and 20.8% were very high users (5+ hours; n=2203). Girls reported spending more time on social media than boys. Overall, heavier social media use was associated with poorer sleep patterns, controlling for covariates. For example, very high social media users were more likely than comparable average users to report late sleep onset (OR 2.14, 95% CI 1.83 to 2.50) and wake times (OR 1.97, 95% CI 1.32 to 2.93) on school days and trouble falling back asleep after nighttime awakening (OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.66).ConclusionsThis study provides a normative profile of UK adolescent social media use and sleep. Results indicate statistically and practically significant associations between social media use and sleep patterns, particularly late sleep onset. Sleep education and interventions can focus on supporting young people to balance online interactions with an appropriate sleep schedule that allows sufficient sleep on school nights.

Bedtime social media use, sleep, and affective wellbeing in young adults: an experience sampling study

“…Our findings are contrary to previous studies in the field that have reported associations between increased bedtime social media use and poorer affective and mental wellbeing (Burke et al, 2010; Lin et al, 2016; Primack et al, 2017; Sagioglou & Greitemeyer, 2014), and between social media use and poor sleep (Lemola et al, 2015; Levenson et al, 2017; Scott et al, 2019). Important distinctions between our study and previous research might account for these dissimilarities.…”

“…Studies examining the link between social media use and sleep have reported that increased use of social media, specifically before sleep, is associated with poorer sleep patterns. In a recent study using data from the Millennium Cohort Study on individuals aged between 13–15 years in the UK, Scott et al (2019) found that longer time spent on social media during the day was associated with later sleep times and later wake up times on school days, as well as difficulty falling back asleep after night‐time awakening. Studies also report that increased social media use at night before sleep is associated with more sleep disturbances (Levenson et al, 2016, 2017).…”

“…Studies considering the relationship between social media use, mental or affective wellbeing and sleep purport that excessive social media use is linked to both poorer sleep indicators and poorer mental health (e.g., Scott et al, 2019) . Such evidence points to a possible domino‐effect relationship between the three variables; specifically that the negative impact of social media use on adolescents’ and young adults’ sleep may further spill over to their affective wellbeing.…”

Depression alters the circadian pattern of online activity

“…The latter difference corresponds to an interesting daily peak of highest activity at 9 PM which occurs in both cohorts. This peak of activity levels may correspond to a period of time after dinner and before bedtime which individuals use for recreational social media use 49 . Since this peak is more pronounced for the D cohort, it raises the interesting possibility that social media use is partly involved in altering the circadian activity levels of the D cohort.…”

“…Finally, social media, regardless of its utility as data sources for social science [52][53][54][55] , has become an important factor in the social lives of billions of individuals. The analysis of social media and related mobile communication data might therefore shed light on how or whether these platforms affect public health at a global scale 34,49,56 .…”