How can I sleep more without getting distracted by my phone? đ´
In the annual report of student mental health app Alongside, Northwestern University Lab for Scalable Mental Health studied what middle schoolers across 19 states in the U.S. said occupied their minds most of the time - in other words, what was bothering them or causing them the most anxiety. The study was done by looking at what topics students talked about to Alongsideâs AI chatbot companion.
The most common issues reported, regardless of age, gender, or rural/urban location, were âBalancing activities and school,â with âSleep strugglesâ in second. (For context, the next runners ups were âFinding a relationshipâ in third, âInterpersonal conflictâ in fourth, and âLack of motivationâ in fifth place, respectively.)
When we came across this report and saw the top 2 issues middle schoolers said they were facing, it did not come as a great surprise. Two years ago, when we ran our first survey of international school students in Hong Kong and Thailand, I asked students to rank what they would most want to do if they had more time in their day: more than 80% said âsleepâ, ranking it more important than âsports/exercise,â âhobbies,â or ârest/downtime.â Even at the time, this response jumped out at me as warranting more investigation, since I assumed âmoreâ sleep was a relatively easier problem to solve (spoiler alert: untrue).
Fast forward a few years and weâve gained a better understanding of why itâs a challenge for digital natives (and adults) to get âenoughâ sleep, in part through continuous conversation with Kigumi partners like Linda Charmaraman at Wellesleyâs Youth, Media, and Wellbeing Research Center. One of the most helpful papers we found at the beginning of that journey was one about youth, sleep and social media that Lindaâs team worked with doctors from Brown and Harvard on, which found that âsocial technologies [accessed via a phone] have mental and physical health risks, including a negative impact on sleep, due to factors such as displaced bedtime, disruption of circadian rhythms by the devicesâ light emission, nighttime smartphone alerts, and increased cognitive arousal.â (2)
Since then, Kigumi has been hard at work partnering with experts like Linda to create curricular activities and trainings for kids to explore this area of their digital wellbeing, beginning with teaching them the science behind what their brains and bodies experience living in a digital world.
Here are some of the realisations weâve had while unpacking the topic of sleep and tech for our kids:
#1: Itâs not just about âenoughâ sleep. The quantity of sleep is not the only way to think about it. Itâs also about quality, consistency and interruptions.
Many kids take devices to bed, use devices in the hour before sleep, and wake to check their phones. Sleep studies also suggest that video games, music, and video streaming can keep teens up at night and reduce the amount of sleep they get (2). Kids who had higher levels of âsocial technology useâ and starting using technology at a younger age had significantly later bedtimes and fewer hours of sleep on school nights. In these studies social technology use is defined as âchecking social media, problematic internet behaviors, mobile use, watching emotional or violent videos or influencer videos containing risky behaviors.â The context of when and how they used social technology also made a difference: bedtime behaviors (i.e. being allowed to use technology up until bedtime) and rules allowing them to start having social media at an early age were significantly related to later bedtimes and fewer hours of sleep on school nights.
#2: Parents play a major role in helping their kids sleep more and use tech less.
Lindaâs study of 11-15 year olds found that parental rules restricting mobile phone and online use before bed were significant in kids having increased sleep time and earlier bedtimes. It also helped significantly when parents employed rules that led to their kids obtaining a smartphone at a later age. (3) (Note: in the next article weâll cover practical tips for parents to help their households sleep better.)
#3 Girls are affected more than boys.
A 2024 study from Leipzig University investigating the associations between electronic media use at bedtime and sleep difficulties in children aged 10 to 14 years and focusing on differences between girls and boys found that using electronic media at bedtime was significantly linked to various sleep problems, including bedtime issues, sleep behavior difficulties, and daytime sleepiness. Importantly, these associations were much stronger in girls than in boys. The researchers hypothesised that girls may be more affected by electronic media use at bedtime due to greater arousal or stress from interactive media activities like social media, which is used more frequently by girls and that this arousal or stress possibly disrupts girlsâ ability to fall asleep more than it does for boys. (4)
#4 We need to teach kids about how their brain reacts to technology.
Most of the medical and psychology literature reviewed about sleep and technology for kids doesnât usually alight on the topic of whether adults - parents, teachers, etc. - actually teach kids about their bodyâs reaction to technology; and from Kigumiâs experience, individual schools and teachers may briefly mention the topic as part of their health or digital citizenship curriculum, but itâs not a given. In our culture, it seems not to be widespread yet to talk about the neurological impact of technology directly to the kids whose brains are being affected.
This needs to change. When we talk to our kids - in age-appropriate ways - about how their body changes, responds, and manages the impact of digital devices, we are empowering them to make higher quality decisions about their own health.
They should:
understand the impact of blue light and other associated design elements from tech on their brains and eyes,
understand the correlations between content they see on a device and neurological / hormonal triggers,
learn the mid- to long-term impacts of unbalanced screentime and various differences between screen-based activities; and, perhaps most importantly,
understand the incentive structures in privatised tech companies that drive the companies to âinnovateâ features within digital environments that directly elicit neurological responses in users like them.
Wait for the next installation of the article for tips and practical advice about how parents can help kids obtain better sleep in a digital age.
Sources:
(1) Kigumi Group survey of international school students in Thailand and Hong Kong, 2023-2024
(2) Ploderer, B., Rodgers, S. & Liang, Z. Whatâs keeping teens up at night? Reflecting on sleep and technology habits with teens. Pers Ubiquit Comput 27, 249â270 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-021-01661-x
(3) Charmaraman L, Richer AM, Ben-Joseph EP, Klerman EB. Quantity, Content, and Context Matter: Associations Among Social Technology Use and Sleep Habits in Early Adolescents. J Adolesc Health. 2021 Jul;69(1):162-165. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.09.035. Epub 2020 Nov 2. PMID: 33148478; PMCID: PMC8087719.
(4) Poulain Tanja , Hilbert Cornelia , Grundmann Annelie , Kiess Wieland. Associations between media use at bedtime and sleep: a cross-sectional analysis on differences between girls and boys. Frontiers in Psychology, Volume 15 - 2024. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1290935
