Doomscrolling, Digital Burnout, and Sleep Disturbance Among University Students in Pakistan: The Statistical Mediating Role of Digital Burnout
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.68024/wswsvn55Keywords:
doomscrolling, digital burnout, sleep disturbance, university studentsAbstract
Doomscrolling the repetitive consumption of negative online information has been associated with psychological distress, yet the processes linking this behaviour with sleep problems remain insufficiently studied in Pakistani university populations. This cross sectional quantitative study examined the associations among doomscrolling, digital burnout, and sleep disturbance and tested whether digital burnout statistically accounted for part of the doomscrolling sleep relationship. The cleaned sample comprised 300 university students aged 18 29 years; Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scores were derivable for 283 participants. Doomscrolling was measured using the 11 items available from the exported Doomscrolling Questionnaire, digital burnout using 23 available items from the Digital Burnout Scale, and sleep disturbance using the PSQI. Doomscrolling correlated strongly with digital burnout, r = .710, p < .001, and positively with sleep disturbance, r = .606, p < .001. Digital burnout also correlated with sleep disturbance, r = .580, p < .001. A bootstrap mediation model showed a significant indirect association through digital burnout, ab = .033, 95% BCa CI [.016, .051], while the direct effect remained significant. Poor sleep quality (PSQI > 5) was observed in 65.7% of participants with scoreable PSQI data. The findings support digital burnout as a plausible, nonexclusive statistical pathway connecting doomscrolling with poorer sleep, while the cross sectional design precludes causal inference.
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