From Scroll to Struggle: Social Media Usage and Its Impact on Malaysian Youth Attention and Academic Focus

The rapid rise of TikTok as a dominant social media platform has intensified concerns regarding its effects on youth cognitive functioning and academic performance. This study examines how TikTok usage patterns, specifically frequency of use, usage timing, and habitual or impulsive engagement, affect sleep quality, attention span, and academic achievement among Malaysian youth. Using a quantitative design, data were collected through an online survey of 185 users aged 15–30 years and analyzed using correlation and multiple regression. The findings reveal that habitual or impulsive engagement generated the most detrimental effects, significantly reducing sleep quality (β = 0.296), attention span (β = 0.255), and academic performance (β = 0.296). Usage timing also negatively influenced sleep quality (β = 0.440), particularly when engagement occurred late at night. Moreover, sleep quality (β = 0.155) and attention span (β = 0.426) positively predicted academic performance, with the models explaining over 60% of the variance in key outcomes. The study concludes that unregulated and impulsive TikTok use compromises cognitive endurance and academic engagement, underscoring the need for digital literacy initiatives, sleep hygiene awareness, and self-regulation strategies to foster healthier and more balanced social media habits among youth