Use of social networking sites (SNSs) and its repercussions on sleep quality, psychosocial behavior, academic performance and circadian rhythm of humans – a brief review

ABSTRACT

Social networking sites (SNSs) confer countless benefits to mankind through increased communication and connection between and among millions of people on the globe. Do the detrimental effects of SNSs outweigh its benefits? We have tried to answer this question through reviewing the relevant literature on the repercussions of use of SNSs on sleep quality, psychosocial behavior, academic performance and circadian rhythm in humans. Literature on the subject underscores the adverse effects of SNSs usage on sleep resulting in poor sleep quality, delayed sleep onset, shortening of sleep length, excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), insomnia, apnea and nightmare. The students addicted to social media suffer from psychiatric distress, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, suicidal ideation, procrastination and poor academic attainment. There is, however, a paucity of literature on the effects of overuse of SNSs on the functioning of circadian clocks in humans. It emerged that the adolescents and young adults are the most vulnerable to the ill effects of excessive use of the SNSs. We recommend that more researches on the effects of SNSs on human health should be carried out and effective awareness campaigns should be launched to educate the people about the darker side of the excessive use of SNSs.

KEYWORDS:

• Social networking sites
• sleep quality
• academic performance
• circadian rhythm
• chronotype

Acknowledgments

The authors are obliged to the Head of the Department, School of Zoology, Gangadhar Meher University, Amruta Vihar, Sambalpur – 768 004, Odisha, India for extending all facilities during the study and the preparation of this manuscript.

Author contribution

RKS conducted the literature survey.

AKP conceptualized the theme and wrote the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work is a part of the PhD program of one of the authors (RKS). The authors did not receive any financial support from any extra-mural funding agency, except the routine facilities that were extended to the authors by the Gangadhar Meher University, Amruta Vihar, Sambalpur 768004, Odisha, India.