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Global Translational Medicine Sleep and emotion rhythmicity in tweets

media activity as its data source, it should be noted that the of emotional word content being used by third parties or
proposed methods are by no means limited to these data. internal algorithms is far more challenging. Furthermore,
For better or worse, activities of daily living increasingly given that many environmental aspects such as latitude,
rely on the use of smartphones or mobile applications, longitude, altitude, and light exposure, have potential to
8,9
all of which have potential to inform models used to influence both sleep and emotion, one must weigh the
train predictive dRARs. Moreover, a significant portion potential benefits of including geographical coordinates
of individuals report using their phone immediately into predictive models against the clear and present threat
before going to bed (e.g., checking social media or emails, of monitoring users’ locations.
setting alarms, plugging a phone into a charging socket)
and immediately again on awaking (e.g., to cancel an 4.1. Tending to the ethical and legal landscape of
alarm). 10,11 On the other hand, individuals are increasingly social media monitoring
encouraged to avoid devices before bed 12,13 which may Although a great deal of research development stands
bias estimations of a user’s least active (L5) periods. in the way of any form of real-world implementation,
Nevertheless, triangulating data from multiple digital earnest exploration of the ethical and legal landscape of
sources within a user’s digital device network (e.g., app such advancements is certainly warranted. Principally,
usage, screen inactivity) in an increasingly digital world consideration of how the use of social media data to
could yield a remarkably accurate digital fingerprint of the monitor an individual’s sleep behaviors of emotional
user’s bed and rise time patterns, over time helping to build well-being aligns with the basic ethical principles upheld
a highly intelligent model of the user’s dRARs, and flag any by medicine requires addressing. For instance, where
deviations from normative cycles. does the responsibility of technology devised to monitor
health behaviors and emotional well-being end? In the
4. Ethical and legal challenges process of monitoring emotional word content, do we
Who should be the gatekeeper of information obtained also uphold a responsibility to monitor other behaviors
on real-time emotional state and vulnerability? The social which may be perceived as threatening (e.g., abuse,
media platforms themselves, or some form of health terrorism) to others. One could easily draw comparisons
liaison agency with links to mental health services? One with analogs among the medical field, such as incidental
must consider whether such organizations have the findings of structural abnormalities which occur during
necessary infrastructure to support such a large-scale MRI scans.
repository of what could reasonably be considered patient Assuming consent is deemed a requirement, the stage
health information. Social media networks are notoriously and source at which consent is obtained presents another
susceptible to cyber-attacks, and assessments would first challenge. For instance, should this take place at the
need to be made to verify that security systems meet the terms-and-conditions level of the end-user platform, in
clinical standards. Furthermore, a new data governance essence permitting monitoring of all users, or should there
system must be established to ensure proper safekeeping be an independent opt-in process external to these initial
of data and their transfer to clinical liaison services. terms and conditions, either allowing users to opt-in
Proper data governance is also essential to prevent the or opt-out. Once entertaining the realms of informed
commoditization of these potentially rich and revealing consent, the age at which one is considered competent
data. Given the growing use of behavioral economics to of consent or assent becomes an immediately pertinent
create individually targeted advertisement campaigns, it factor. Most social media platforms permit adolescent
would be naïve to assume that these data have no financial users, typically below the age of what most healthcare
value, or even that they are not already being used in systems would be considered medically autonomous.
such a way. Information on a user’s sleep habits, or level Should these users be omitted from monitoring on
of sleep disruption, would likely be an extremely valuable the grounds of inability to consent, or should consent
asset to commercial organizations promoting sleep be sought through legal guardians? Whilst ethically
medications or supplements, much like information on straightforward and defensible on the grounds of
positive or negative emotional states would be financially consent, omitting adolescents and those under the age of
incentivizing to myriad facets of the highly lucrative field legal consent entirely from the process has the potential
of mental wellness. Permitting modular adjustments to to create an age-group disparity in the availability of
data visibility (e.g., preventing timestamps of posts from preventative health measures. One must also, of course,
being visible) could be one potential solution to addressing take into account the fact that adolescents are those most
some aspects of this dilemma. However, the prevention likely to be: (1) high-volume users, (2) likely to convey

Volume 4 Issue 2 (2025) 55 doi: 10.36922/gtm.5176