Electronic Media Essay

With all the technological advances in the last twenty years and the rise of social media in the last ten, it is not unreasonable or inconceivable to suggest that the electronic media devices present in children and adolescents’ bedrooms are inhibiting normal sleep processes and resulting in tiredness at school and the onset of Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder (DSPD). There have been a growing number of studies conducted all over the world that support this theory, only some of which will be cited in the following essay. Increasingly, the evidence found shows that children and adolescents with electronic media devices in their bedrooms have poorer bedtime and sleep habits and a worse quality of sleep than those without.

The first paper discussed in this essay by Suganuma, Kikuchi, Yanagi, Yamamura, Morishima, Adach, Kumano-Go, Mikami, Sugita, and Takeda, (2007) is one of the most basic in terms of its contents and in comparison to some other studies, but also one of the most necessary to be mentioned. They used a series of surveys and questionnaires to gauge the level of self-perceived insufficient sleep attributed to the use of electronic media devices before they attempted to go to sleep of a night time. Their results showed that those who did partake of electronic media consistently reported insufficient sleep and sleep deficits.

A study by Pieters, De Valck, Vandekerckhove, Pirrera, Wuyts, Exadaktylos, Haex, Michiels, Verbraecken, Cluydts, (2012), suggests that there is a biological change in the circadian rhythm of adolescents and that the onset of sleep and waking is delayed, resulting in later bedtimes and rise times. A number of environmental factors are also mentioned in relation to these biological factors as to the ons...

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...en leads to sleep deficits and DPSD. It also advises parents, teachers and health professionals that television viewing and computer use in particular may lead to negative sleep habits, resulting in daytime sleepiness at school, attention and behavioural problems, as well as increased risk to mental and physical health. This supports the recommendation that there should be more parental monitoring and control of their children’s daily exposure to electronic media devices. Nuutinen, Ray and Roos’s paper provides a good comparison to most other studies in this area as they tend to focus on media use among adolescents. But it is important to note that the exposure to electronic media is becoming increasingly high in children too, which can consequently lead to the pathological use (King, Delfabbro, Zwaans, Kaptsis, 2013) mentioned above as they become adolescents.