In
the society we live in, it seems that everyone has a smartphone. Smartphones
serve many functions: we use it to keep in touch with friends and family, visit
social networking sites, surf the internet and even play games or listen to
music. It seems our whole lives revolve around our phones. This fact is more
evident in teenagers. In fact, a survey by the national sleep foundation, found
that, more than half of the teens reported electronic media use (i.e.
smartphones and other electronic devices) as one of their favourite
activities. Over two-thirds reported that their last activity of the day was
related to their smartphone use, specifically, during the last hour before
going to sleep. Not known by them is that their electronic media use before bed
is having an effect on their mental health. In recent years, studies have found
that electronic media use before bedtime, is associated with sleep
disturbances, and depressive symptoms in teenagers. Despite this, very little
research has studied how smartphones have changed teenager’s bedtime routines.
Additionally, research is lacking on what mediates the relationship between
electronic media use and depressive symptoms in teenagers.
In
light of this, a group of researchers set out to investigate whether teenagers
who own a smartphone would differ from teenagers who do not, on their
electronic media use before sleep. Specifically, they tested the following four
hypotheses:
1.
Whether owning a smartphone is related to more electronic media use in general
and mainly in bed before sleep
2.
Whether electronic media use in bed before sleep is related to higher levels of
depressive symptoms
3.
Whether electronic media use in bed before sleep is related to shorter sleep on
weekday nights and/or sleep difficulties on weekday nights
4.
Whether the relationship between electronic media use in bed before sleep and
depressive symptoms is partly mediated by sleep duration and/or sleep
difficulties.
To
test out their theories, 362 teenagers (ages 12-17) completed questionnaires
assessing sleep disturbance (short sleep duration and sleep difficulties) and
depressive symptoms. The teenagers answered questions about how often they
watched TV or movies, played video games, talked or sent text messages, and how
long they spent online. After completing the questionnaires, the teens either
received an interventional lesson on sleep hygiene, or general information on
sleep related topics. One month later, the participants completed the same
questionnaires again.
Their
results showed that teenagers who owned a smartphone, sent a lot more text
messages, spent more time on the Internet and on Facebook per day than
teenagers who owned conventional mobile phones (i.e. not a smartphone).
Furthermore, teenagers who owned a smartphone were more likely to go to bed
later than other teenagers who owned a conventional mobile phone. These
findings supported their first hypothesis that teenagers with smartphones
report more electronic media use while in bed. This implies that the increase
availability of new electronic devices drastically affect teenagers’ sleep
habits. Secondly, the researchers found that indeed, electronic media use in
bed before sleeping was associated with higher levels of depressive
symptoms. Thirdly, the results showed that electronic media use in bed before
sleep was associated with shorter sleep duration and more sleep
difficulties. And lastly, in line with their fourth hypothesis, the authors
found that the relationship between electronic media use in bed before sleep
and depressive symptoms is partly mediated by sleep duration and/or sleep
difficulties.
This
is troubling because instead of having a good night's sleep, teenagers
spend the bulk of the time on their phones, which leaves them tired and
irritable in the day time while at school, or, anywhere else. Additionally, a
proper night's rest is essential to our overall well-being, without proper
sleep we would face many serious health concerns. Interestingly, the
researchers found that the electronic media use type that was most
strongly associated with sleep disturbances and depressive symptoms, was
spending time online (e.g., on Facebook and other social networking sites)
while lying in the bed before sleep. This suggests that their presence on
social media sites is the number one culprit behind the sleep disturbances and
depressive symptoms. As if we needed anymore reasons to question the negative
influence of social media.
Depression
in teenagers is a severe condition with a high chance of reoccurrence in
adulthood. As depression rates are drastically increasing during teenage years,
and prevalence rates have also been increasing in the past few decades, it is
important to offer ways to prevent depression during adolescence.
The
authors recommend the following: As electronic media use before sleep is
related to sleep disturbance and depressive symptoms, many teenagers might
benefit from improved sleep hygiene by reducing their electronic media use
before and at bedtime. They suggest that sleep hygiene education for teenagers
be taught in classrooms and parents be informed of the risk and possible ways
to reduce teenagers’ electronic media use at night. In addition to sleep
hygiene education, the authors recommend that programmers could include
specific applications on smartphones that encourage teenagers’ to maintain
proper sleep hygiene. For example, it could track the time when teenagers use
their smartphones, at what time there is noise in their bedroom, at what time
they go to sleep and when they get up, as well as provide reminders when sleep
hygiene rules are not followed. Lastly, the authors recommend that school
psychologists identify teenagers suffering from excessive electronic media use
and a sleep disorder, and referred to treatment, as there is growing
evidence that maintaining regular sleep patterns could reduce the occurrence of
depression in teenagers.
Mental health related illnesses are often overlooked, particularly in teenagers, if there is a way to improve anyone's mental well-being, I believe it is in our right to do so.
Primary source:
Lemola, S., Perkinson-Gloor, N., Brand, S., Dewald-Kaufmann, J. F., & Grob, A. (2014). Adolescents’ electronic media use at night, sleep disturbance, and depressive symptoms in the smartphone age. Journal of youth and adolescence, 1-14.
Secondary Source:
National Sleep
Foundation. (2011). Sleep in America poll. Exploring connections with
communications technology use and sleep. National Sleep Foundation: Washington,
DC
No comments:
Post a Comment