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Geographically Resolved Rhythms in Twitter Use Reveal Social Pressures on Daily Activity Patterns.

ABSTRACT: Daily rhythms in human physiology and behavior are driven by the interplay of circadian rhythms, environmental cycles, and social schedules. Much research has focused on the mechanism and function of circadian rhythms in constant conditions or in idealized light-dark environments. There have been comparatively few studies into how social pressures, such as work and school schedules, affect human activity rhythms day to day and season to season. To address this issue, we analyzed activity on Twitter in >1,500 US counties throughout the 2012-2013 calendar years in 15-min intervals using geographically tagged tweets representing ?0.1% of the total population each day. We find that sustained periods of low Twitter activity are correlated with sufficient sleep as measured by conventional surveys. We show that this nighttime lull in Twitter activity is shifted to later times on weekends relative to weekdays, a phenomenon we term "Twitter social jet lag." The magnitude of this social jet lag varies seasonally and geographically-with the West Coast experiencing less Twitter social jet lag compared to the Central and Eastern US-and is correlated with average commuting schedules and disease risk factors such as obesity. Most counties experience the largest amount of Twitter social jet lag in February and the lowest in June or July. We present evidence that these shifts in weekday activity coincide with relaxed social pressures due to local K-12 school holidays and that the direct seasonal effect of altered day length is comparatively weaker.

SUBMITTER: Leypunskiy E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6590897 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Geographically Resolved Rhythms in Twitter Use Reveal Social Pressures on Daily Activity Patterns.

Leypunskiy Eugene E Kıcıman Emre E Shah Mili M Walch Olivia J OJ Rzhetsky Andrey A Dinner Aaron R AR Rust Michael J MJ

Current biology : CB 20181115 23

Daily rhythms in human physiology and behavior are driven by the interplay of circadian rhythms, environmental cycles, and social schedules. Much research has focused on the mechanism and function of circadian rhythms in constant conditions or in idealized light-dark environments. There have been comparatively few studies into how social pressures, such as work and school schedules, affect human activity rhythms day to day and season to season. To address this issue, we analyzed activity on Twit ...[more]

PMID: 30449672

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Project description:BackgroundDaily rhythmicity has been observed for a number of hormonal and behavioral variables in mammals. It can be entrained by several external factors, such as light-dark cycle and scheduled feeding. In dromedary camels, daily rhythmicity has been documented only for melatonin secretion and body temperature. In this study, the daily rhythmicity of behavioral repertoire, cortisol and testosterone levels was investigated in captive male camels.MethodsSix clinically healthy male dromedary camels (Camelus dromedarius) were used. The animals were housed in single boxes for 24 h daily and fed twice a day. Over a period of 48 h, behavioral observations were made and blood samples taken every two hours. The data were analyzed using diurnality index, conisor analysis and PROC mixed procedure.ResultsThe diurnality index for rumination and lying down was close to 0 (respectively, 0.09 and 0.19), while the indices for stereotypy, standing, feeding and walking were close to 1 (respectively, 0.74, 0.84, 0.92 and 0.85). Cosinor analysis revealed daily rhythmicity for all behaviors and for cortisol levels (acrophase at 12:57) but not for testosterone. Rumination and lying down (inactive behaviors) reached a peak during the scotophase, whereas feeding, walking and stereotypy (active behaviors) reached a peak during the photophase around midday. Cortisol level and expression of stereotypies peaked before and after food distribution and were negatively correlated (r = - 0.287, P = 0.005). Testosterone levels and expression of sexual behaviors were stimulated by the visual and olfactory contacts with the females and were positively correlated (r = 0.164, P = 0.040). Testosterone was also negatively correlated with cortisol (r = - 0.297; P = 0.003).DiscussionThese preliminary results provided new knowledge about the daily rhythm of behaviors in camels housed in boxes, suggesting that camels exhibit diurnal behavior pattern in the maintenance conditions outlined in the study. Daily rhythmicity seemed to be entrained not only by the light-dark cycle but also by scheduled feeding. The rise in stereotypy after food distribution could be due to the persistence of feeding motivation and frustration after the ingestion of food. Therefore, feeding practices should be improved to satisfy the foraging and feeding motivation of these camels. Behavioral and hormonal daily patterns in camels should be taken in consideration to adapt the management system, giving the animals more freedom during the light period and a diet richer in fiber, so as to improve reproductive performance, health and welfare.

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Geographically Resolved Rhythms in Twitter Use Reveal Social Pressures on Daily Activity Patterns.

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Geographically Resolved Rhythms in Twitter Use Reveal Social Pressures on Daily Activity Patterns.

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