Media use and insomnia after terror attacks in France

Abstract

Direct exposure to traumatic events often precipitates sleep disorders. Sleep disturbance has also been observed amongst those indirectly exposed to trauma, via mass media. However, previous work has focused on traditional media use, rather than contemporary social media. We tested associations between both traditional and social media consumption and insomnia symptoms following 2015 terror attacks in Paris France, controlling for location and post-traumatic symptomology. 1878 respondents, selected to represent the national French population, completed an internet survey a month after the Bataclan attacks (response rate 72%). Respondents indicated different media use, post-traumatic stress and insomnia. Controlling for demographics, location and PTSD, insomnia was associated with both traditional (β 0.10, P = .001) and social media use (β 0.12, P = .001). Associations between social media and insomnia were independent of traditional media use. Interventions targeted at social media may be particularly important following mass trauma.

Introduction

A large body of evidence suggest that stress, and in particular, stress from direct exposure to trauma, is a precipitating factor for sleep disturbance (Bui et al., 2012, Harvey et al., 2003, Sinha, 2016). Studies with war veterans (Lewis et al., 2009) and individuals who experienced missile (Lavie, 2001), terror attacks (Galea et al., 2002, North et al., 1999) and natural disasters (Bui et al., 2012, McMillen et al., 2000) found increased difficulty in initiating sleep, returning to sleep after awakening, nightmares, and a general hyperarousal following traumatic events (Germain, 2013, Lavie, 2001, Sinha, 2016). A smaller literature has considered the impact of trauma on sleep amongst those indirectly exposed, primarily through the media. This includes associations between watching TV and dreams (following the Challenger disaster (Terr et al., 1999), and after 9/11 (Propper et al., 2007)), terror-related TV consumption and general sleep difficulties following missile file in Israel (Soffer-Dudek and Shahar, 2010), and reading internet news and disruptive nocturnal behaviour after the 2011 Great Japan earthquake (Bui et al., 2012). Most of this work has focused on engagement with traditional media; however, research following natural disaster suggests the immediacy and personalization offered by social media may have a greater psychological toll (Goodwin et al., 2013, Goodwin et al., 2017). As yet, the impact of these social media on sleep disturbance following trauma has been underexplored.

In November 2015 gunmen claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group attacked the Bataclan concert hall and restaurants in St. Denis, Paris, killing 130. Using data from a national survey (Goodwin et al., 2017), we consider the associations between traditional and social media use following the attack and subsequent insomnia. Because location (physical proximity to attack) has been positively associated with distress (Goodwin et al., 2017) we control for location within vs. outside of Paris. While the relationship between mass trauma and PTSD is complex, insomnia has been associated with acute psychological distress (Sinha, 2016, Germain, 2013, Krakow et al., 2015, Schoenfeld et al., 2012) primarily via the hyperarousal component of PTSD. We therefore report both associations between media use and insomnia, and media use and insomnia, controlling for the impact of post-traumatic symptomology on insomnia. This allowed us to assess the unique association of media use on insomnia, beyond the impact of distress.