Social Media Use, Sleep Quality, and Self-Rated Health Among First-Year Students at George Mason University Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Objectives: Young adults spend approximately 5 hours per day using social media, and some studies indicate that social media use can lower sleep quality and contribute to worse health. We examined the relationships between total and nighttime social media use and poor sleep quality and self-rated health among students at a large public university to determine whether poor sleep quality mediated the effects of social media use on self-rated health cross-sectionally and through 3 assessments before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Participants were 349 first-year students (aged 18-24 y) from the 2019-2020 George Mason University Health Starts Here Study, a longitudinal study of predictors of physical and mental health during college. Students completed standardized measures of total and nighttime social media use, sleep quality, and self-rated health during the first 3 semesters of college, immediately before and after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Daily total social media use was positively related to poor sleep quality cross-sectionally ( r = .21) and longitudinally ( r = .22). Nighttime social media use was positively related to total social media use ( r = .33) but not to sleep quality and self-rated health. Poor sleep quality mediated the effects of total social media use on self-rated health cross-sectionally and longitudinally during the study period. Conclusion: Reduced use of social media may improve the sleep quality and self-rated health of first-year college students almost immediately and during the course of a year. More longitudinal research is needed to understand the duration and processes by which students’ social media use may affect their sleep quality and health.