Bo Boroka, O'Sullivan Aidan, Bariol Eva, Kucherenko Nicole, Behan Molly
Sociology, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Sociology, University of California Berkeley, Berkley, CA, United States.
Front Sociol. 2025 Sep 5;10:1492373. doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2025.1492373. eCollection 2025.
Algorithmic serendipity is the seemingly chance encounter with exactly the right content, engineered by online recommender systems, linking individuals to one another and to digital remedies. This phenomenon transforms the individual experience of insomnia into a collective experience, creating communities around shared sleeplessness. Using a corpus of YouTube comments, we present a comprehensive theory of how algorithmic mediation may reshape insomnia in late modernity. Insomniacs forgo rest to read and share their experiences with sleeplessness, forging community instead of sleep. In tracing this loop, we show how disclosure practices, peer validation, and platform logic fuse to turn a private symptom into a shared social condition. The result is a paradox: the same digital infrastructures that soothe wakeful nights sustain insomnia. Recognizing this underscores that digital culture must sit at the center of sleep research. Interventions should target not only individuals, but the collective rhythms and norms that animate digital worlds.
算法机缘巧合是指在线推荐系统促成的与恰好合适的内容看似偶然的相遇，它将个体彼此联系起来，并与数字疗法相连接。这种现象将失眠的个体体验转变为一种集体体验，围绕共同的失眠问题形成社区。通过使用YouTube评论语料库，我们提出了一种关于算法调解如何在现代晚期重塑失眠的全面理论。失眠者放弃休息去阅读并分享他们的失眠经历，从而形成社区而非进入睡眠状态。在追踪这个循环的过程中，我们展示了披露行为、同伴认可和平台逻辑是如何融合在一起，将一种私人症状转变为一种共享的社会状况的。结果是一个悖论：那些缓解失眠夜晚的相同数字基础设施却维持着失眠状态。认识到这一点突出表明，数字文化必须处于睡眠研究的核心位置。干预措施不仅应针对个体，还应针对赋予数字世界活力的集体节奏和规范。
