Social Media and its Impact on Sleep and Health

Millions of people remain glued to their androids, digital devices, and computers at home. People spend endless hours on social media sites; when not watching something online, they text. And all this has resulted in a major lack of sleep. One recent study indicates that nearly 20% of young adults lose sleep over social media. Many of these people wake up in the middle of the night to see if they have received an email or a text from a friend. This latest study published in the Journal of Youth Studies indicates that social media mania has taken over the lives of young people all over the country.

This nocturnal social activity is having negative repercussions on teenagers. Complaints of feeling tired the following morning and not wanting to go to school are common. In addition, the lack of sleep in teenagers is also affecting their wellbeing and happiness. Many teenagers end up being irritable and cranky the following morning.

This study looked at 900 students between ages 12-15 and asked them to fill in a questionnaire about their nighttime activities and social media. At least 20% reported being awake late in the night and chatting with friends. Further, the study revealed that females were more likely than males to engage in social media chats and texts at night. Not surprising was that the people who stayed awake at night, had a great deal of difficulty waking up in the morning and were three times as likely to complain of fatigue at school. Finally individuals who were tired after a long night on social media also stated they there were less happy and not content compared to individuals who did not partake nocturnal social media activities.

Educators are now concerned about the growing nighttime use of social media by teenagers. Besides just sleep deprivation, there are other concerns such as safe driving.

With everyone now having a digital device or a personal computer at home, it will take a lot of discipline to discontinue this habit in the future. So far, it appears that most parents have not been able to do much or perhaps are unaware that their teenagers participate in nocturnal social media activities. Taking away the digital devices is not the answer because they are readily available and relatively cheap. A drastic change in lifestyle and education are needed to curb this habit before it gets to be more dangerous to health.