Social Media In Australia Essay

For research project B, I intend to investigate the issue of Australian sleep patterns, cycles and necessities in high school, alongside the use of social media, and how it is influencing the balance of rest we require as young adults. Hence, my research question is, “To what extent is social media affecting Australian adolescent sleep requirements and how is this influencing their behaviour and/or cognitive development?” The reason for considering this line of research is because I am discovering home lives and families are becoming more and more reliant on mobile devices and technology, including my family. As well as myself, being a teenager affected by the addiction to mobile technology and suffering from sleep deficiency and have an inclination
From conducting this research, I am aiming to gain greater knowledge on the overuse of social media and sleep deprivation caused by this. The knowledge I want to gain includes: how social media links to depression, anxiety and low self-esteem, how lack of sleep causes disturbing experiences and how stress, sleep, and social media each influence each other.

Reliable archival sources such as the Australian Sleep Foundation website, ABC Health & Wellbeing website and Health Direct Au Magazine will be explored and critically analysed to help answer each part of my research question. For example, the Health Direct Au website will help me discover more about the causes and factors of mental health issues in adolescents. I will then link this back to social media and answer the first part of my question on how it affects sleeping requirements.

I will also source reliable and relative research in the form of surveying students studying middle and senior school at Victor Harbor High School. This will provide me with a deep insight into how social media is taking shape of young lives, how lack of sleep is affecting students, school, and home, and how it can possibly be