Nighttime Social Media

Therefore, children’s addictions are growing, causing their health to decline, while also making it easy for their privacy to be invaded. The article “Exploring associations between social media addiction”, by Xinhong, ZhuI, et al, talks about how technology affects sleep quality and health in students. The article mentions, “A total of 19.9% of respondents suffered from sleep disturbance. A total of 15.6% of participants had sleep durations less than 5 h, and 21.6% of subjects had sleep durations longer than 9 h” (Xinhong 1). Students’ lack of sleep can greatly affect their academic performance, and social interactions, as mentioned on page 2 of the article.

Have you ever gotten lost in the Internet, swallowed by the constant updates on Twitter and Facebook for hours, when you only meant to be on for a few minutes? This is a constant battle in our society and technology changes and our use of it increases. It is becoming a bigger issue every day, and now it affects one of our basics psychological needs: sleep. Though I concede with Brooke Gladstone, author of “The Influencing Machines” that we can adapt to technology as it grows, I still insist that some issues that arise with technology are bigger than Gladstone portrays and we need to find solutions for some of the bigger problems that technology creates, especially when it disturbs a basic psychological need.

Title + Author: Why We Sleep by: Matthew Walker, PhD. Summary: The book “Why We Sleep” takes a neuroscientific view on everything related to sleep, from why we struggle to fall asleep, to the benefits of sleep, dreaming and its purpose, and the stigma associated with sleep and work. The book discusses sleep in relation to the body, like the brain (memory, emotions, and reaction times), the immune system, appetite/metabolism, and overall health. Through various studies all around the world, Matthew Walker discusses the importance of sleep in all aspects of life such as school, work, and well-being, and why the lack of sleep can be dangerous and even deadly for yourself and others. He emphasizes the need for change around the stigma that sleep equals being lazy, especially for teenagers, but also for employers

This sudden jump in numbers is concerning, and does coincide with the rising number of smartphone users. Finally, Twenge covers how teens are more likely to be sleep deprived and have their physical health suffer when smartphones are overused. According to Twenge, “fifty-seven percent more teens were sleep deprived in 2015 than in 1991” (Twenge). Such a drop in young people achieving a full night’s sleep in concerning, as it is harder to function when sleep deprived. In all, Twenge explains the dangers smartphones truly pose to

In his article, “Kids With Bedroom Smartphones Sleep Less: Study,” Alan Mozes suggests that a smartphone within children's bedrooms could undermine good sleeping habits more than television has. Mozes supports his claim through exemplification. He uses the results of various researches conducted by well-known magazines or universities. The author's purpose was to inform parents of children with no restrictions using their phones in order to help create a better future for the children who have become dependent on smartphones in their daily lives.

Sleep deprivation and sleep disorders among college students is an area of concern among researchers, because of the relationship between quality sleep and quality of academic performance. The factors that have been shown to affect sleep quality or sleep patterns include staying up late, using social networking, and partying. This research uses a simple, unique survey instrument. A total of fifty college students participated in the study. Results substantiate the hypothesis that social media use is heavy among college students, and that the use of social media will be correlated with less sleep and less effective study habits. Future research may discover ways of helping students develop more balanced approaches to their academic, online, and social lives.

Generation Z is addicted to social media because it is the first thing they worry when they wake up. They pick up their phones to see what people posted in the morning, the afternoon, and the evening. Dr. Helen Driver, a somnologist (with means the study of sleep), explains, “The explosion of social media and people staying on devices for longer – and taking them to bed with them – is a huge problem”. Social media has effected Generation Z’s by sleep because the light is from the electronics which interferes with sleep. Not only does social media affect the quality of sleep but, the quantity of sleep too. The next morning, they only got a few hours of sleep and they do not feel well both physically and mentally. If someone has issues with turning off their electronic devices in the evening, then they should dim the lights or and turn the power off.

As we learned in lecture, sleep is an important component in improving a person’s overall health. Because sleep is vital for cognitive function and available time to spend sleeping is limited for college students, like myself, it is advantageous to change sleeping behaviors to maximize the benefits sleep can provide. After tracking my sleeping schedule for a week, I have noticed some patterns and behavior that may be affecting the quality of sleep I am getting. Based on my sleep journal, I could improve my sleep by cutting back on the amount of caffeine I intake and the time spent on electronics before bed to try to reduce the amount of time needed for me to fall asleep.

One big problem with modern day technology, is that it is affecting our sleep. Most of us technophile teens are used to falling to sleep with TV’s light flickering a show to soothe us into sleep. Others might end the day by scrolling their social media’s news feed until their eyes begin to feel heavy. For example, a recent poll by the National Sleep Foundation found that 95% of people use some type of computer, video game, or cell phone at least a few nights a week within the hour before bed (www.sleepfoundation.org). Unfortunately, those night time rituals are most likely messing with their sleep patterns. Neuroscientists presume the glowing lights emitted by TV, smartphone and laptop screens mess with your body's sleep-inducing hormones

In the past few years, cell phones and tablets have begun to take over people’s lives. Cell phones hold our entire lives on them, from what time we wake up in the morning to directions to get everywhere. People spend the majority of their lives on their cell phones, texting, tweeting, or even just playing games. Not only do these devices effect our social lives, but they also affect how we sleep at night and how much sleep we get. Sleep is very important in maintaining homeostasis and proper health, in order to function properly, “healthy adults need between 7-9 hours of sleep each night” (helpguide). If a person does not get the amount of sleep- they need, then they will become groggy and less efficient at work or school.

However, studies show that adolescents’ melatonin levels peak from 11 p.m. until 7 a.m., which only gives them 7hours of sleep at most, without accounting for the influences of technology use (Finely). Access to televisions, computers, and cellphones promote alertness (Foster). About 88% of adolescents have a smartphone today (Zeitzer and Nathan). Although there is not a direct link in increased daytime sleepiness and cellphone usage, studies show that 80% of students that have a smartphone claim that they need it with them at all times which does affect sleeping patterns (Zeitzer and Nathan). Jamie Zeitzer, a Ph.D. in neurobiology, explains that the necessity of a smartphone during bedtime causes people to sleep lighter and spend less time sleeping. In her experiments about 25% of the subjects that slept with a smartphone nearby suffer from excessive subjective sleepiness (Zeitzer and Nathan).

This article is aimed at finding more information on digital media use before bedtime and its effects on sleep variables. The findings will help to further educate us on the relationship between media use and its effects on sleep variables and combined with information from other similar studies will hopefully shed some more light on the topic. Another aim of the study is to design a better experimental method so that University students are sleeping and using digital media in a real-world environment. This allows the information gathered to be considered more useful. Many of the other studies put students in sleep laboratories and this does not reflect the real world digital media use and can sometimes effect sleep patterns.

Today, most research done on technology’s effect on sleep has been focused on how technology makes sleeping more difficult. Technology can become a distraction and keep your brain active as a result of using it before going to sleep. The National Sleep Foundation even discovered through a poll that “nine of 10 Americans reported

Many do not believe that we have a technology problem in today’s society. But, ninety-five percent of people use technology an hour before they go to sleep (How Technology Affects Sleep). This is an alarming amount of people who use technology before they go to sleep. You do not have to be looking directly at the technology to trigger the pineal gland to stop releasing melatonin (Kim). Many also believe that lack of sleep due to technology does not affect how they do their daily jobs. Seventy-five percent of those over 30 that reported not getting enough sleep said that when they were tired that their sleepiness effected their daily work (Tarkan). For a school age kid ten hours of sleep is needed. Teenagers also need about nine to ten

Studies have shown that the average person now spends more time each day on their phone and computer than they do sleeping according to Nick McGillivray (“What are the Effects of Social Media on Youth?). Social has become part of our social society, especially for the many youths. There are positives to being on social media and also equal amounts of danger that come with using social networking sites, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. These social networking sites also have effects on today’s youth by altering the way they behave, the way they learn, in not only a classroom setting but also in the real world setting, and the way that they socialize with their peers and others.