Sleep is an essential part of our development and wellbeing. It is important for learning and memory, emotions and behaviours, and our health more generally. Yet the total amount of sleep that children and adolescents are getting is continuing to decrease. Why?
Although there are potentially many reasons behind this trend, it is emerging that screen time – by way of watching television or using computers, mobile phones and other electronic mobile devices – may be having a large and negative impact on children’s sleep.
Electronic Devices Intrude on Time for Sleep
The presence and use of these devices is incredibly widespread. A 2006 survey showed that nearly all adolescents have at least one electronic device in their bedroom.
Given this, and the increasing exposure to screen time – particularly in the hours before bedtime – it is perhaps not surprising that screen time is now associated with insufficient and poor quality sleep.
A 2014 review found consistent evidence that sleep was hampered by screen time, primarily in relation to shortened sleep duration and a delay in the timing of sleep. The latter finding was reported in 90% of the studies reviewed.
But the relationship between screen time and sleep is more complex than that. Screen time could be negatively influencing sleep in many ways.
