According to study co-author Heather Cleland Woods, a psychology administration teacher at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, teens who always feel a round-the-clock compulsion to use social media sites like Facebook or Twitter will experience lost sleep. They will also feel higher risk for depression and anxiety. This result was the outcome by British researchers who surveyed around 470 teens to explore how 24/7 social media participation will result in which might affect the emotional health of the teens.
Adolescence is that stage of life for children when they have increased vulnerability for the onset of depression and anxiety. The poor quality sleep may add more problem for these teens. Around 90 percent of teens in the world use social media, the researchers revealed. Facebook alone has 1.5 billion users, and Twitter, more than 300 million. Woods and co-author Holly Scott, also from the University of Glasgow, said, evidence in the study revealed that there is an increasing link between social media use and well-being.
During the course of the study researchers inquired about the habit of using social media, like when you had access to social media during day time or bedtime. During the study teens also underwent mental health testing and were asked about the pressure they felt and how much anxiety they felt when they were unable to access Facebook. Researchers called it a state of mind known as “emotional investment”.
The result of the study clearly exhibited the more teens engaged with social media, more they were fervently devoted in website participation, thus have the greater risk for diminished sleep, poor self-esteem, depression and or anxiety. Those teens who access social media during night were linked to higher risk for bad sleep.
