The effect of Digital Media Use on Sleep

A literature review including 67 articles (published between 1999 – 2014), evaluated the association between digital media use and sleep problems in children and adolescents. In the survey, a positive association was demonstrated in 90% of the studies. The main effect found was an association between digital media use at lights out time and sleep postponement and shortening of sleep duration (differences in the findings were reported according to age and gender of the participants, screen type, and weekdays versus weekend).

It should be noted that these studies have a number of limitations; most of the studies were cross sectional and the minority were interventional. In cross sectional studies, the causal direction is unclear, does the use of digital media interfere with sleep or does lack of sleep lead to increased digital media use? In addition, the studies relied on subjective reporting, both of digital media exposure and of sleep indices, and not on objective assessment of exposure data and sleep disturbances. Many studies did not provide information on the type of devices, combined use and characteristics of content watched.

Presence of Digital Devices in Children’s Bedrooms and their Effect on Sleep Indices

Studies have shown an association between the number of digital devices in children’s rooms and their types and sleep disturbances amongst children and adolescents.

In a survey conducted by the American Sleep Foundation in 2005, a significant difference was found between adolescents with few (up to 3) digital devices in their bedrooms and those with more than 3 digital devices in their bedrooms. A higher percentage of adolescents with few digital devices in their bedrooms (25%) slept 9 hours per night, compared to those with many devices in their bedrooms (13%). In another study it was found that shortening of overall sleep time can reach up to 45 minutes if there were a variety of screens in the child’s bedroom.

Use of Digital Devices and its Effect on Sleep

The effect of digital media use around lights out time is characterized by sleep postponement and shortening of sleep duration. It was found that use of digital devices after 9:00 PM has a negative effect on sleep quality (with differences at the various ages). Also, many screen hours in the evening (at least an hour) make it 3.4 times more likely that the child will go to sleep late. In addition to sleep onset postponement due to use of various technologies, exposure to arousing content (for instance movies, active computer games) may also have an effect.

Read more about the effects of digital media on sleep, by type of device (TV, computer, internet use and cell phone)

Examples of studies in this field:

• In a study conducted amongst middle school students in 2009 it was found that total screen time was not related to sleep problems. On the other hand, over one hour of screen time before bed increased the risk of sleep problems 13 fold.
• A cross sectional study conducted amongst around 10,000 adolescents (aged 16-19) in Norway examined the association between digital media usage before going to sleep or during leisure time and sleep disturbances. The study found that the use of digital devices all day or in the hours before going to sleep, affects sleep indices in the same way, with increase in the risk of shortened sleep duration, prolonged sleep onset latency and increase in sleep deprivation. An association was also found between the number of hours using screens during leisure hours and a reduction in sleep duration.
• A study published in 2011 that included 617 kindergarten aged children (aged 3-5 years) investigated the effect of usage time and digital media content on children’s sleep. It was found that night time media usage had a greater effect on sleep than daytime usage. Nevertheless, it found that consumption of violent media contents during the day was related with nighttime sleep problems. No association was found between non-violent media consumption in the day and sleep problems. 

Because of the scarcity of studies until now, it is not possible to evaluate the effect of digital media usage during the day - in general and for pedagogical purposes in particular - on sleep.

*This review was prepared with the help and guidance of Prof Tamar Shochat of the Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, Haifa University and Mr. Amit Green of the Institute for Sleep Health, Assuta Medical Centers

Go back to list of chapters

Go to the next chapter

References:

• Bruni O, Sette S, Fontanesi L et al. Technology Use and Sleep Quality in Preadolescence and Adolescence. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine 2015; 11:1433-1441.
• Hysing M, Pallesen S, Morten KS et al. Sleep and use of electronic devices in adolescence: results from a large Population-based study. BMJ Open 2015; 5.
• Hale L and Guan S. Screen time and sleep among school-aged children and adolescents: a systematic literature review. Sleep Med Rev 2015; 21:50-8.
• Cain N, Gradisar M. Electronic media use and sleep in school-aged children and adolescents: A review. Sleep Medicine 2010;11:735–742
• Mistry KB, Minkovitz CS, Strobino DM et al. Children's television exposure and behavioral and social outcomes at 5.5 years: doestiming of exposure matter? Pediatrics 2007;120:762-9
• Van den Bulck J. Text messaging as a cause of sleep interruption in adolescents, evidence from a cross-sectional study. J Sleep Res 2003; 12:263
• Johansson AE, Petrisko MA and Chasens ER. Adolescent Sleep and the Impact of Technology Use Before Sleep on Daytime Function. J Pediatr Nurs 2016; 31(5):498-504.
• Li S, Jin X, Wu S et al. The impact of media use on sleep patterns and sleep disorders among school-aged children in China. Sleep 2007; 30:361-7
• National Sleep Foundation. 2006 Teens and sleep: Summary of findings. Available at: https://sleepfoundation.org/sites/default/files/2006_summary_of_findings.... Accessed at Junauary 2016
• Arora T, Broglia E, Thomas GN et al. Associations between specific technologies and adolescent sleep quantity, sleep quality, and parasomnias. Sleep Med 2014; 15:240-7
• Pallesen S, Hetland J, Sivertsen B et al. Time trends in sleep-onset difficulties among Norwegian adolescents:1983–2005.Scandinavian Journal of Public Health 2008; 36: 889–895
• Reid Chassiakos YL, Radesky J, Christakis D et al. Children and Adolescents and Digital Media. Pediatrics 2016;138. pii: e20162593.
• Foley LS, Maddison R, Jiang Y, Marsh S, Olds T, Ridley K. Presleep activities and time of sleep onset in children. Pediatrics. 2013; 131(2):276–82.
• Kubiszewski V, Fontaine R, Rusch E, Hazouard E. Association between electronic media use and sleep habits: an eight-day follow-up study. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth. 2013:1–13. ahead-of-print.
• Levenson JC, Shensa A, Sidani JE et al. The association between social media use and sleep disturbance among young adults. Prev Med 2016; 85:36-41
• Buxton OM, Chang AM, Spilsbury JC et al. Sleep in the modern family: protective family routines for child and adolescentsleep. Sleep Health 2015; 1:15-27
• Higuchi S, Motohashi Y, Liu Y and Maeda A. Effects of playing a computer game using a bright display on presleep physiological variables, sleep latency, slow wave sleep and REM sleep. J. Sleep Res 2005;14:267–273
• Shochat T, Flint-Bretler O & Tzischinsky O. Sleep patterns, electronic media exposure and daytime sleep-related behaviours among Israeli adolescents. Acta Pædiatrica 2010; 99: 1396–1400.
• Kubiszewskia V, Fontainea R, Rusch E et al. Association between electronic media use and sleep habits: an eight-day follow-up study. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth 2014;19:395–407
• Garrison MM, Liekweg K, Christakis DA. Media use and child sleep: the impact of content, timing, and environment. Pediatrics 2011;128:29-35. 27.
• Margaret K Merga. ‘Bring Your Own Device’: Considering potential risks to student healthHealth Education Journal 2016,75 464–473

Updated: 15.7.2018