Journal of Women's Health Care
Open Access

Abstract

The Young and the Restless: Socializing Trumps Sleep, Fear of Missing Out, And Technological Distractions in First Year College Students

Sue K Adams

College students are a sleep-deprived population, with first-year students facing a number of specific challenges to sleep. As students transition into and through the first year of college, sleep may be sacrificed for a variety of reasons. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen first-year female students, exploring factors that impacted sleep during the first semester of college. Study participants identified three unique but related themes that impacted their sleep: socializing trumps sleep; fear of missing out (FoMO); and social/technological distractions. Implications are provided for balancing social, academic, and biological demands during the first year of college.