Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Bristol Study Links Late-Night Social Media Posting to Lower Wellbeing

The observational analysis of tweet timestamps explains about 2% of differences in overall mental health.

Overview

  • Researchers examined 18,288 posts from 310 Children of the 90s participants between 2008 and February 2023.
  • Habitual posting between 11pm and 5am was associated with worse wellbeing than daytime activity.
  • Links with symptoms of depression and anxiety were reported but were weaker than the overall wellbeing finding.
  • Authors suggest sleep disruption, cognitive arousal, and smartphone blue light as plausible mechanisms while stressing the study cannot establish causation.
  • Published in Scientific Reports, the work points to potential app wind-down features or policy measures aimed at reducing nighttime posting.