Edward Smith / EMPICS EntertainmentBad news for social media addicts, researchers have discovered a link between social media use and a bad night’s sleep.
The study, conducted by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, took a group of of 1,788 American adults ranging from 19 to 32 years old who were asked about their social media activity, EurekAlert reports.
Researchers asked the subjects how often they used popular social media platforms including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest, Vine and LinkedIn.
Rowan Staszkiewicz / PA Archive/PA ImagesThey discovered that individuals who checked their social media more frequently were three times as likely to suffer from sleep disturbance, and users who checked more often during the day were twice as likely to have troubled sleep compared to those who didn’t use it as much.
Dr. Jessica C. Levenson, lead author and a postdoctoral researcher in Pitt’s Department of Psychiatry, said:
This may indicate that frequency of social media visits is a better predictor of sleep difficulty than overall time spent on social media… If this is the case, then interventions that counter obsessive ‘checking’ behavior may be most effective.
Basically guys, it may be time to close your app and go to bed. After you’ve finished reading everything on our site, obviously…
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.