DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2018.v06i08.003

Pages: 2960-2965

Social media (SM) is becoming increasingly important in the lives of young people and very little is known about its relationship with sleep disturbance. The sample of the study consisted of 204 students from a university in Turkey. The relationship between SM use and sleep disturbance in students was evaluated. Social Media Use Integration Scale (SMUIS) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used. Sleep quality scale values of males were better than females. Evaluation of SMUIS demonstrated that females used SM more than males. With increasing income level sleep quality increased but SM usage level decreased. The sleep quality level of students who used SM for a long period of time was lower than that of short-term users. Sleep quality of the subjects who used SM less frequent during the day was better than frequent users. As the time spent on SM sites increased, the PSQI values were observed to be adversely affected. The use of SM can take the place of sleep directly; it may take a long time to stop it before sleeping. Our study demonstrated that sleep quality tended to reduce in participants who used SM for longer duration and spend more time for SM. Although sleep quality tended to decrease with increasing SM use in our study no significant relationship could be found between the scales. But there was a trend for decreasing sleep quality with increasing SM use. The adverse effects of SM use on sleep is controversial. More controlled use of SM and its positive effects on young people should be supported. SM may affect social relations including friendships and present different learning options. Planning the duration and times of the day SM is used can prevent negative effects of SM use on sleep quality of young people.