The use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp does not lead to sleep and psychological problems in the short or longer term. There is no negative influence of social media use in any age group. Even with lonely people, this use does not lead to more problems. However, there are indications for the opposite:that people with psychological or sleeping problems use social media more often.
These are the main results of a major longitudinal study by research institute CentERdata, Tilburg University and the University of Pavia, based on a large representative sample of the Dutch population (3,486 Dutch people aged 16 and over).
In the study, twice, with an interval of one year, the study participants were extensively asked whether they use social media (such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook and Youtube), and in particular how often they chat and how often they read messages or messages. or places. Psychological and sleeping problems and loneliness in the period before and after were also investigated. Whether increased use of social media is associated with more psychological and sleep problems in the short or longer term has been investigated, among other things, within the entire research group, within different age categories, and among people who were previously lonely or not.
Never before has such extensive research been conducted on this subject. The results therefore show that people who use social media more do not have more psychological or sleeping problems in the short (about 1 month) or longer term (about 1 year). The underlying analyzes take into account existing psychological problems, sleeping problems and loneliness in the preceding period. This prevents wrong conclusions from being drawn. When pre-existing problems are not taken into account, people who use social media a lot seem to have more psychological and sleep problems in the short and longer term. This explains why some studies that do not take into account existing problems do seem to find an effect of social media use. The results further suggest that people with psychological or sleeping problems do use social media more often.
