The increase in smartphone usage over the past decade has often been associated with the increase in sleep problems. Whilst many studies have focused on the total phone usage and sleep problems,...Show moreThe increase in smartphone usage over the past decade has often been associated with the increase in sleep problems. Whilst many studies have focused on the total phone usage and sleep problems, not many studies have investigated the contribution of an app category to sleep problems. Therefore, this study aims to examine the relationship between different smartphone app categories and sleep duration, using objective data collection methods. Data from a different project was used, which tracked 88 participants aged 16 to 45 over 14 nights, gathering phone usage data and sleep data using objective measures. Phone data was gathered from 3 hours before sleep onset. Following exclusion criteria, 38 participants remained, which resulted in 532 data entries for analysis. The results from the first analysis indicated that the app category ‘Social’ had a significant positive influence on sleep duration (Beta = .12, p =.01), suggesting a possible positive relationship between social media usage and sleep duration. The second analysis, which combined the app categories ‘Social’ and ‘Communication’ into a new variable, labeled ‘SocCom’, also revealed a significant positive relationship with sleep duration (Beta = .14, p = .002). The third analysis, which examined the total time spent on a phone and sleep duration found a positive relationship (r = .09, p = .04), indicating that more phone usage was associated with longer sleep duration. These findings contradict the conventional ideas that increased phone usage before sleep leads to less sleep duration. However, due to limitations of this study, the results cannot be interpreted as causal relationships, as many unknown variables might influence the results. Further studies should explore this topic further, using a more controlled study design.Show less
