Social Media Use Before Bed and Sleep Disturbance Among Young Adults in the United States: A Nationally Representative Study
Open accessAbstract
Study Objectives: Social media (SM) use has been positively associated with disturbed sleep among young adults. However, previous studies have not elucidated the specific importance of SM use immediately before bed. We aimed to determine the independent association of SM use during the 30 minutes before bed and disturbed sleep while controlling for covariates including total SM use throughout the day. Methods: We assessed a nationally representative sample of 1763 US young adults aged 19–32. Participants estimated to what extent they used SM in the 30 minutes before bed. We assessed sleep disturbance using the brief Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) Sleep Disturbance measure. After testing the proportional odds assumption, we used ordered logistic regression to compute the independent association between SM use before bed and sleep disturbance controlling for covariates, including total SM use. Results: Compared with those who rarely or very rarely check SM in the 30 minutes before bed, those who often or very often check SM at that time had an adjusted odds ratio of 1.62 (95% confidence interval = 1.31–2.34) for increased sleep disturbance. Additionally, we found a significant linear trend in the odds ratios between the frequency of checking SM in the 30 minutes before bed and increased sleep disturbance (p = .007). Results were consistent in all sensitivity analyses. Conclusions: SM use in the 30 minutes before bed is independently associated with disturbed sleep among young adults. Future work should use qualitative and experimental methods to further elucidate the directionality of—and mechanisms underlying—this association.
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Time spent using social media may displace sleep directly or displace other daytime activities that are then delayed and disrupt nighttime routines.
“In terms of sleep duration, time spent using social media may displace sleep directly or displace other daytime activities (such as homework) that are then delayed and disrupt nighttime routines.9 17”
From Social media use and adolescent sleep patterns: cross-sectional findings from the UK millennium cohort study (2019) · cites this paper as [17]
The Introduction (page unavailable) proposes that daytime social media use may displace other tasks, delaying bedtime or disturbing nighttime routines; the Discussion gives schoolwork as an example. The paper does not specifically propose that time spent on social media directly displaces sleep, and it measures sleep disturbance rather than sleep duration. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSocial media use at bedtime is a strong predictor of poorer sleep outcomes, independent of overall use.
“The timing of use is highly relevant for sleep, as social media use at bedtime is a strong predictor of poorer sleep outcomes, independent of overall use [14,16,17,41,42].”
From Understanding Links Between Social Media Use, Sleep and Mental Health: Recent Progress and Current Challenges (2019) · cites this paper as [14]
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“[26,27] Watching videos at rapid speed can reduce mind‑wandering, but beyond that may impair comprehension.”
- Authors
- Levenson, J. C., Shensa, A., Sidani, J. E., Colditz, J. B., & Primack, B. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- Corresponding author
- Primack, Brian A
- Venue
- Sleep
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2017-07-05
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 9
- ISSN
- 0161-8105 (ISSN-L)
- 1550-9109
- PMC
- PMC8205627
- OpenAlex
- W2728923370
- Cited by
- 177
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 26 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 3
- FWCI
- 14.04
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model (vor)
- Locations
- SLEEP (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- NIH
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and Work-Related Fatigue
- Keywords
- social media use, bedtime, sleep disorders, young adults, sleep quality
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Female, Health Surveys, Humans, Male, Sleep, Sleep Wake Disorders, United States, Logistic Models, Odds Ratio, Young Adult, Social Media
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