Connected Yet Lonely: Examining the Interplay of Social Networking Addiction, Sleep Disturbance and Subjective Well-Being among University Students

Abstract

Social networking sites are woven into the academic and social routines of university students, yet the psychological cost of compulsive use remains contested. Evidence is thinner for South Asian samples and for designs that examine sleep, loneliness, and well-being together rather than separately. A cross-sectional correlational survey was conducted with 199 university students (99 men, 100 women; age 18–24 years, M = 21.72, SD = 1.79) recruited through convenience sampling at private universities in Sialkot, Pakistan. Participants completed the Social Networking Addiction Scale, the Sleep Quality Scale, the UCLA Loneliness Scale, and the BBC Well-Being Scale on paper. Data were analysed using Pearson correlations, independent-samples t tests, and multiple regression. All six addiction dimensions showed small positive associations with sleep disturbance (r = .14 to .31). Associations with loneliness were negligible to small and reached significance for tolerance, conflict, and relapse only (r = .14 to .21). Five of six dimensions were weakly and negatively related to well-being (r = −.16 to −.24). Loneliness was strongly and negatively related to well-being (r = −.47). Women scored higher on mood modification (d = .39) and, at the margin of significance, on withdrawal; no gender differences emerged for sleep disturbance, loneliness, or well-being. In a multiple regression, the model accounted for 28.9% of the variance in well-being, with loneliness the dominant predictor (β = −.40).