Are you a college student? Are you sleep-deprived? Do you use your smartphone often before you go to bed? If you answer yes to all 3 of these questions, that means you are part of the growing culture in the 21st century: young adolescents are more attached to their smartphones than ever before–and they are losing sleep.

Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Putting study reminders on your phone and using it to socialize are some of the benefits of why we even own such a device in the first place. However, excessive smartphone use has been shown to have a negative toll on our health if we always use it before bedtime (Tavernia & Willoughby, 2013). Furthermore, the adverse effects of sleep deprivation coming out of smartphone use have been linked with insomnia, obesity, and lower school grades (Arora, Broglia, Thomsa, & Taheri, 2013). There is also such thing as smartphone addiction, where some individuals overuse their smartphones to the extent of affecting their functioning on a daily basis. Students who often have disruptive sleep due to overuse of technology may be more likely to experience symptoms of depression, which is associated with poorer mental health. 

So what if college students use smartphones too often and are sleep-deprived? The overuse of technology is becoming a more commonplace problem. It has even become a public health concern in developed countries such as Canada (Hysing, Pallesen, Stormark, Jakobsen, Lundervold, & Sivertsen, 2015). Moreover, 89% of college students have occasional to chronic sleeping problems (Adams & Kisler, 2013). If we don’t start fixing this issue now, it will only get worse for young generations and the future of society who will eventually have to depend on this cohort for economic support. 

In order to tackle this problem, there are several solutions you can do to take control of the situation. First, control your caffeine and alcohol consumption. You don’t want to make the sleep deprivation problem already worse by relying on such beverages to make it through your day. Second, seek out healthy social support networks. Having social support is one of the protective factors of maintaining good hours of sleep (Rosen, Carrier, Miller, Rokkum, & Ruiz, 2016). By focusing less on your social media and actually finding friends to socialize with in the real world, you are not only building relationships–you are also building a good health habit. Third, find hobbies. Whether you decide to exercise or take a walk outside in nature, having a variety of hobbies other than slouching on the bed all day long on your phone shows profound effects on your vitality and well-being. Finally, be pro-active about your sleeping habits. If you need to make a self-prescribed sleep schedule, do it. If you need to take a break from your smartphone, go take that break. I ensure you that the more self-regulated you are in breaking bad habits and making good ones, the better it will be for your health (and academic grades) in the long run. 

On the whole, society would be a lot better off if we have more lively college students roaming the campus and studying effectively because they got good sleep the night before. If we promote the above strategies along with other interventions such as implementing technology breaks during class while the professor is teaching, or having parents be watchful of their children’s smartphone behaviour, less potential health problems would occur. With the advancement of technology, it is no secret that we will have more issues to deal with. But for now, just know this is what we can do to combat the challenge together.

References

Arora, T., Broglia, E., Thomas, G. N., & Taheri, S. (2014). Associations between specific technologies and adolescent sleep quantity, sleep quality, and parasomnias. Sleep Medicine, 15, 240-247. doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2013.08.799

Hysing, M., Pallesen, S., Stormark, K. M., Jakobsen, R., Lundervold, A. J., & Sivertsen, B. (2015). Sleep and use of electronic devices in adolescence: Results from a large population-based study. BMJ Open, 5. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2014-006748

Rosen, L., Carrier, L. M., Miller, A., Rokkum, J., & Ruiz, A. (2016). Sleeping with technology: Cognitive, affective, and technology usage predictors of sleep problems among college students. Sleep Health, 2, 49-56. doi:10.1016/j.sleh.2015.11.003

Tavernier, R., & Willoughby, T. (2014). Sleep problems: Predictor or outcome of media use among emerging adults at university? Journal of Sleep Research, 23, 389-396. doi:10.1111/jsr.12132