Association of Social Media Use on Sleep Quality and Performance Among Collegiate Athletes

(1) To examine the effect of social media (SM) use on sleep quality and (2) to determine the effect of SM on competition performance among college athletes.

Cross-sectional study.

Two local Division III colleges, MA, USA.

National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III swim and track and field athletes.

Data were collected onsite through an SM use form, the lifestyle survey, and the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Sleep Disturbance Questionnaire. Participants were divided into 3 groups based on their SM volume: (1) less active SM users (≤2 h/d), (2) moderately active SM users (>2-≤5 h/d), and (3) active SM users (>5 h/d) for analysis.

Sleep quality and sport performance data collected through publicly available competition results. The independent variable, SM volume (hours of SM use per day over 7 days), was collected using the iPhone screen time function.

The cohort consisted of 40 male track and field athletes and 47 female track and field (37, 79%) and swimming (10, 21%) athletes. Mean SM use was 4.6 ± 3.4 h/d. The sleep quality of active SM users was worse than less active SM users ( P = 0.033). There was an independent association between increased Facebook time and poor performance after adjusting confounders (adjusted odds ratio: 0.990, 95% confidence interval: 0.981-0.999, P = 0.049).

High SM use has a negative impact on sleep quality and may hinder competition performance among college athletes. These findings may have implications for developing SM use guidelines for college athletes to improve their sleep quality and performance.