Sleep and Digital Altruism: Are Good Sleepers, Good Doers?

Abstract

The present study examines how sleep quantity and sleep quality are associated with online behavior, specifically acts of digital altruism. A total of 228 adult (mean age 40 years) participants residing in the United States, recruited through Facebook and Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), completed an online survey assessing sleep quality and quantity, digital altruism, internet use, happiness, and personality. Correlation results show that sleep quantity was associated with performing digital altruism. Mediation analyses revealed that this direct association was fully mediated by happiness. Although sleep quality was not directly associated with performing digital altruism, it was indirectly associated with happiness. These results suggest that both more sleep and better sleep are associated with greater happiness, which in turn, is associated with performing more acts of digital altruism. Regression results further revealed that the direct association between sleep quantity and performing digital altruism was curvilinear, such that the association reverses with very high amounts of sleep. Results of this study extend previous findings that sleep quantity is associated with performing traditional altruism to online behavior. This study further highlights the importance of receiving sufficient sleep due to its association with increased happiness and more frequent acts of performing digital altruism, while simultaneously underscoring the need for future research regarding risks associated with excessive sleep.