Young Children Are Losing One Full Night’s Sleep Each Week Due To Social Media, Claims New Study

Social media may be more harmful to kids than expected. The news comes thanks to a new study claiming how the trend adversely affects primary school children.

According to the shocking findings, they could well be losing up to an entire night’s sleep each week. And that’s due to staying up late and using social media.

Health experts recommend that kids sleep for at least 9 to 12 hours. But those who were more active online slept far less than the daily recommended number of hours that were delineated for kids aged 10 and below.

Less sleep can have drastic effects on their health and well-being. This includes poor performance academically and changes in their behavior patterns. Moreover, the study shed light on how on average, such kids are getting far less sleep than recommended each night, like 8 hours or less.

And when you add that up, researchers found that it’s equivalent to losing an entire night’s worth of good sleep.

The study is definitely one of the first of its kind. It has been linked to being the first to put pre-teens' sleeping habits on display, and it’s concerning to see how so many young children are giving more value to their online activities at this age than their sleep.

The study comes forward by a researcher named Dr. John Shaw, who hails from the University of De Montfort. He even presented his study at the recently held latest Science Festival in Leicester. And many parents were shocked to see how 69% of kids preferred social media to sleep.

And if you think of it, such statistics are awfully terrifying as this is the future generation and parents need to step in before it's too late.

This particular study in question enrolled around 60 students spread out across various schools, and they were just aged 10. The majority had full access to social media, and around 90% claimed to have their own smartphones.

Sites that claim they don’t allow visitors below the age of 13 aren’t getting their facts right because children can gain access easily. Most students surveyed spent their time on the popular video-sharing app TikTok. Other popular favorites included Instagram, Facebook, and Reddit as well.

Commonly asked questions by researchers toward the young audiences included their bedtime habits, sleeping schedule, and what time they’re able to get up in the morning. And as you can imagine, the greater their online activities, the less they slept and the poor sleep quality they had.

Many kids seem to suffer from the FOMO syndrome, that is, the fear of missing out whenever they choose not to log on to their favorite social media apps. They also added there was some sort of disconnection when they couldn’t see or interact with others on the apps.

This shows how negative the activity is for young children’s mental health and well-being. It’s really affecting their behavior, and that’s the purpose of the study- to raise more awareness and put an end.

Read next: Top 10 Educational Apps On iOS That Are Sure To Invade Your Privacy
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World