"Avoid screens before bed" is one of the most common pieces of sleep advice. But what if the real problem isn't screen time—it's the way we use social media at night?
Sleep deprivation is one of the most widespread yet overlooked public health issues, especially among young adults and adolescents.
Despite needing eight to 10 hours of sleep, most adolescents fall short, while nearly two-thirds of young adults regularly get less than the recommended seven to nine hours.
Poor sleep isn't just about feeling tired—it's linked to worsened mental health, emotion regulation, memory, academic performance and even increased risk for chronic illness and early mortality.
At the same time, social media is nearly universal among young adults, with 84% using at least one platform daily. While research has long focused on screen time as the culprit for poor sleep, growing evidence suggests that how often people check social media—and how emotionally engaged they are—matters even more than how long they spend online Brian B. Chin, a psychology professor at Trinity College, writes for The Conversation.
As a social psychologist and sleep researcher, Chin studies how social behaviors, including social media habits, affect sleep and well-being. Sleep isn't just an individual behavior; it's shaped by our social environments and relationships.
And one of the most common yet underestimated factors shaping modern sleep? How we engage with social media before bed.
Beyond simply measuring time spent on social media, researchers have started looking at how emotionally connected people feel to their social media use.
Some studies suggest that the way people emotionally engage with social media may have a greater impact on sleep quality than the total time they spend online.
In a 2024 study of 830 young adults, Chin and his colleagues examined how different types of social media engagement predicted sleep problems. They found that frequent social media visits and emotional investment were stronger predictors of poor sleep than total screen time. Additionally, presleep cognitive arousal and social comparison played a key role in linking social media engagement to sleep disruption, suggesting that social media's effects on sleep extend beyond simple screen exposure.
These findings suggest that cutting screen time alone may not be enough—reducing how often people check social media and how emotionally connected they feel to it may be more effective in promoting healthier sleep habits.
If you've ever struggled to fall asleep after scrolling through social media, it's not just the screen keeping you awake. While blue light can delay melatonin production, the team's research and that of others suggests that the way people interact with social media may play an even bigger role in sleep disruption.
Here are some of the biggest ways social media interferes with your sleep:
Taken together, these factors make social media more than just a passive distraction—it becomes an active barrier to restful sleep. In other words, that late-night scroll isn't harmless—it's quietly rewiring your sleep and well-being.
You don't need to quit social media, but restructuring how you engage with it at night could help. Research suggests that small behavioral changes to your bedtime routine can make a significant difference in sleep quality. Try these practical, evidence-backed strategies for improving your sleep:
A brief moment of awareness can help break the habit loop.
This story was produced by The Conversation and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
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