Digital Addiction and Sleep.

In 2020, the World Health Organization formally recognized addiction to digital technology (connected devices) as a worldwide problem, where excessive online activity and internet use lead to inability to manage time, energy, and attention during daytime and produce disturbed sleep patterns or insomnia during nighttime. Recent studies have shown that the problem has increased in magnitude worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. The extent to which dysfunctional sleep is a consequence of altered motivation, memory function, mood, diet, and other lifestyle variables or results from excess of blue-light exposure when looking at digital device screens for long hours at day and night is one of many still unresolved questions. This article offers a narrative overview of some of the most recent literature on this topic. The analysis provided offers a conceptual basis for understanding digital addiction as one of the major reasons why people, and adolescents in particular, sleep less and less well in the digital age. It discusses definitions as well as mechanistic model accounts in context. Digital addiction is identified as functionally equivalent to all addictions, characterized by the compulsive, habitual, and uncontrolled use of digital devices and an excessively repeated engagement in a particular online behavior. Once the urge to be online has become uncontrollable, it is always accompanied by severe sleep loss, emotional distress, depression, and memory dysfunction. In extreme cases, it may lead to suicide. The syndrome has been linked to the known chronic effects of all drugs, producing disturbances in cellular and molecular mechanisms of the GABAergic and glutamatergic neurotransmitter systems. Dopamine and serotonin synaptic plasticity, essential for impulse control, memory, and sleep function, are measurably altered. The full spectrum of behavioral symptoms in digital addicts include eating disorders and withdrawal from outdoor and social life. Evidence pointing towards dysfunctional melatonin and vitamin D metabolism in digital addicts should be taken into account for carving out perspectives for treatment. The conclusions offer a holistic account for digital addiction, where sleep deficit is one of the key factors.

Of seekers and nonseekers: Characteristics of Covid-19-related information-seeking behaviors

During health crises like the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, it is crucial that individuals are able and willing to adequately respond to information. Individuals who deliberately seek information have an enhanced capacity to act on it and are capable of informed assessments of risks and self-protective behaviors. In contrast, overexposure to Covid-19 news as well as non-seeking can constitute information-related inequalities and hamper individuals? coping with the health crisis. Having this global health communication challenge in mind, our research aims to understand what characterizes non-, medium, and frequent seekers, considering sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors, health status, affective risk responses, efficacy assessments, trust in information sources, and satisfaction with information. This study is based on data of the second wave of the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) Germany. Among 2602 participants, analysis revealed that 23.3% of the respondents did not actively seek information about Covid-19, while 34.3% of them intensively monitored information. Nonseekers, compared to medium and frequent seekers, were characterized by a lower socioeconomic status, lower affective risk responses, lower perceived information-related self-efficacy, and lower trust in information sources. These findings provide indications for strategic health approaches and can guide initiatives to address adequate use of health information.