Work

Scrolling Into Sleeplessness: Social Media, Sleep Disturbance, and Mental Health in Young Adults

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Social media is embedded in young adults’ daily routines and frequently extends into the biological night. This narrative review examines how the amount, timing, content, and degree of control over social media use relate to sleep duration, sleep quality, insomnia symptoms, circadian timing, depression, anxiety, loneliness, and suicidality. PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and PsycINFO were searched for English-language literature available through August 2026, with priority given to systematic reviews, meta-analyses, longitudinal studies, experiments, randomized interventions, and authoritative clinical guidance. Problematic, bedtime, nocturnal, and emotionally dysregulated use showed more consistent associations with disturbed sleep and adverse mental-health outcomes than total duration alone. The principal mechanisms were sleep displacement, cognitive and emotional arousal, social comparison, fear of missing out, notification-related interruption, and evening light exposure. Sleep appears to operate as both a mediator and a bidirectional amplifier: distress can promote compensatory scrolling, while delayed or fragmented sleep can impair affect regulation. Nevertheless, causal inference remains limited by cross-sectional designs, self-report bias, heterogeneous exposure definitions, residual confounding, and rapidly changing platforms. Clinically, assessment should focus on timing, control, content, function, and perceived benefits. Individualized reduction strategies may be useful, but they should complement rather than replace evidence-based treatment of insomnia or psychiatric disorders.

Source: International Journal of Innovative Technologies in Social Science

DOI: 10.31435/ijitss.4(52).2026.6659