JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Social media use is associated with poor sleep among adolescents, including daytime sleepiness, which impacts adolescents’ physical and mental health. Less research has examined whether specific social media behaviors, such as checking and posting, and adolescents’ perceived importance of social media for social purposes are associated with sleepiness. Identifying whether certain adolescents are more at risk or protected from the effects of SM on sleepiness than others may inform future interventions around sleep and social media.

Objective:

The study aimed to examine the association between social media use frequency and importance and daytime sleepiness, and whether perceived importance of social media for social interactions and parental rules around bedtime technology exacerbated these relationships.

Methods:

This cross-sectional, survey study was conducted with a sample of 4,153 adolescents from across the United States. Qualtrics was used to collect data via panel recruitment from a national sample representing the US demographics of teens aged 12-17 years old. Participants completed measures of daytime sleepiness, frequency of social media checking and posting, and importance of social media for social interactions. Parents reported whether they had a household rule around bedtime media/screen use. Hierarchical regressions and moderation analyses were conducted, covarying for age, gender, and age of first smartphone.

Results:

Participants had a mean age of 14.64 (SD 1.66) years in grades 6-12, and 46% identified as female and 68% as White. Results indicated that adolescents who posted (B = .70, SE = .04, p <.001) or checked (B = .76, SE = .04, p <.001) on social media more frequently or who perceived social media to be more important for social affordances (B = .36, SE = .02, p <.001) were more likely to have daytime sleepiness. Moderation analyses indicated that the relationship between social media frequency and importance and daytime sleepiness was exacerbated by higher levels of perceived social media importance (B = .04, SE = .01, p <.001) and for those who did not have household rules around bedtime technology use (Frequency: B = -.34, SE = .09, p <.001; Importance: B = -.16, SE = .04, p <.001) .

Conclusions:

Findings suggest that adolescents who use social media more frequently and perceive social media to be more important for social interactions are more likely to have daytime sleepiness. Adolescents with more social media use are more likely to be affected if SM is more important for social affordances, or if their parents did not have household rules around bedtime technology use. Findings may guide future prevention and intervention programs designed to reduce daytime sleepiness, particularly focused on social media behaviors and bedtime technology rules.