Social media use and adolescent sleep patterns: cross-sectional findings from the UK Millennium Cohort Study

Abstract

<p>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 &amp;lt;3h per day (31.6%, n = 3720). 33.7% were classed as low users (&amp;lt;1h; n = 3986), 13.9% were high users (3 to &amp;lt;5h; n = 1602) and 20.8% were very high users (5+h; 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.</p>

Understanding Links Between Social Media Use, Sleep and Mental Health: Recent Progress and Current Challenges

“…Taking this broader perspective on social media use (moving beyond simply hours per day, to examine a range of relevant social and emotional aspects) has therefore brought valuable new insight to links with mental health, and we argue that this can offer similar benefits to sleep research and practice. For example, sleep researchers can build on existing evidence (which shows poorer sleep outcomes for those who use social media most, particularly at bedtime [59]), by further exploring the context and quality of this social media activity and seeking to better understand individuals' motivations and experiences of engaging with (and disengaging from) social media at night [8,12].…”

Identifying drivers for bedtime social media use despite sleep costs: the adolescent perspective

“…Available evidence now clearly supports associations between adolescent sleep patterns and social media use, with young people who spend more time using social media (especially at bedtime) and those who feel more emotionally connected to platforms reporting later bedtimes, longer sleep onset latency, shorter sleep duration and poorer sleep quality. 5,[18][19][20][21][22] Several likely mechanisms have been proposed to explain this link between adolescent sleep and bedtime social media use, alongside other technologies. 23,24 Firstly, social media (and other technology use) may directly displace sleep by delaying bedtimes, resulting in shorter sleep duration.…”

Peer Review #2 of "Teenage sleep and technology engagement across the week (v0.1)"

“…Examining the retrospective self-report questions allowed us to obtain an overview of what most studies in the research area are confronted with when analyzing their data. This allowed us to put our results into the context of the previous literature (e.g., Scott et al, 2019).…”

“…This larger question is growing into an increasingly pressing concern for both scientists and policymakers in various developed countries (Davies, Atherton, Calderwood, & McBride, 2019;Viner, Davie, & Firth, 2019). The notion that digital screens have a consistent and negative effect on sleep is indeed worrying, especially as sleep has been identified as a key factor in adolescent development (Owens, 2014;Scott, Biello, & Woods, 2019;Woods & Scott, 2016), impacting both executive function and emotional stability (Beebe, 2011;Owens, 2014). A loss of sleep resulting from digital device use should therefore be a topic of conversation for academics, parents, and policy makers alike, as they are stakeholders who would need to collaborate closely and rapidly to find solutions to this potential problem (Woods & Scott, 2016).…”