Study: Sleep Deprivation Increases Facebook Usage
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - A recent study shows there is a link between chronic fatigue, crankiness and Facebook scrolling.
According to thestack.com, a study of students at the University of California Irvine measured how amount of sleep affects IT usage.
Gloria Mark, lead researcher and UC Irvine informatics professor, explained that those who are sleep-deprived are more prone to distraction. Turns out, Facebook is a seriously attractive way for people to spend their tossing-and-turning time.
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"If you're being distracted, what do you do? You go to Facebook. It's lightweight, it's easy, and you're tired," Mark explained.
The study equipped students' mobile devices with software to track when they used it, and incorporated sleep surveys and mood checks. The results showed a strong link between chronic fatigue and accumulated sleep debt, increased IT usage, bad moods, and more frequent changing from one app or task to another, which could indicate increased distractability.
The constant checking of Facebook when one has difficulty sleeping can lead to a never-ending cycle. Unable to sleep, one scrolls through Facebook, which worsens sleep and causes that person to become more sleep deprived.
