This study examined how social media use related to sleep quality, self-esteem, anxiety and depression in 467 adolescents. We measured overall social media use, nighttime-specific social media use, emotional investment in social media, sleep quality, self-esteem and levels of anxiety and depression. Adolescents who used social media more -both overall and at night -and those who were more emotionally invested in social media experienced poorer sleep quality, lower self-esteem and higher levels of anxiety and depression. Nighttime-specific social media use predicted poorer sleep quality after controlling for anxiety, depression and self-esteem. These findings contribute to the growing body of evidence that social media use is related to various aspects of wellbeing in adolescents. In addition, our results indicate that nighttime-specific social media use and emotional investment in social media are two important factors that merit further investigation in relation to adolescent sleep and wellbeing.

Efforts to develop and evaluate intervention strategies should therefore consider not only social media behaviours but also underlying cognitive factors, such as fear of missing out.

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.

No abstract

Purpose of Review Sleep and mental health researchers are increasingly recognising the need to update our approaches to understanding the unique social, emotional and cognitive aspects of social media use, rather than simply considering it as just another hour of total daily "screen time". In this review, we highlight some recent developments in this area, discuss ongoing challenges facing this field and offer recommendations for future steps. Recent Findings The sleep and mental health research literatures have made recent advances towards a more nuanced understanding of social media use: moving beyond a focus on simply duration of use, towards new insights into the role of content, context and experience of these online interactions. Summary As this research area moves forward, a focus on high-quality measurement-combined with collaborative multidisciplinary approaches that triangulate insight from different methodologies and perspectives-can inform a more holistic understanding of sleep and mental health in today's connected world.