How Computer and Cell Phone Use Affects Sleep

When I am on my phone at night, my mom will usually tell me to do something “productive.” Even when I say I finished all my homework, she’ll command me to read a book instead of using my phone or computer. Then she’ll go on about how she never had iPhones or laptops growing up and how she found other ways of entertainment, but I spare myself the usual boredom and do as she commands. However, I realized that reading a real book at night made me fall asleep a lot faster than playing on my cell phone at night. I’ll be reading my favorite book, The Outsiders, and only be able to keep my eyes open for thirty minutes or less, then have the book fall out of my hand while I doze off to slumberland or coo myself to sleep like an owl. Then on the nights I do not read, I’ll play on my phone, check Instagram, and watch some Netflix on my computer. On those nights, I find myself going to sleep a lot later than nights I read. So I was not quite sure if my drowsiness was due to how boring the book was, the lighting of my room, or the bright lighting from my phone. I decided to educate myself more on the negative effects of computer and cell phone use before bed.

Research shows that cell phone use before bed is bad for sleep. The article: Really? Using a Computer Before Bed Can Disrupt Sleep by Anahad O’Connor, says that “ Electronic devices stimulate brain activity, they say, disrupting your ability to drift off to sleep. More than 90 percent of Americans regularly use a computer or electronic device of some kind in the hour before bed. ” The problem is that computers and cellphones emit “blue light” from the screen that can be harmful to your eyesight and especially sleep. As a teenager, from my own own observations using electronics before...

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...gative symptoms such as memory deficit. Limits should be placed on cellphone usage in the two hours before bed, or screen light color be adjusted. Currently, however, most cellphone companies do not include an option to change the screen’s color emissions so blue light still presents a problem.

Works Cited

Eng, Monica. "IPad Insomnia: Sleep Loss Linked to Blue Light from Screens Used at Night." Chicago Tribune. N.p., 08 July 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.

MBA, Maureen Healy MA. "Adolescence / Blog." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.

"New Releases." Blue Light Has a Dark Side. N.p., May 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.

Nordqvist, Joseph. "What Is Rapid Eye Movement?" Medical News Today. MediLexicon International, 17 July 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.

O'Connor, Anahad. "Really? Using a Computer Before Bed Can Disrupt Sleep." The New York Times. N.p., 10 Sept. 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.