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By Ahnali Morris
On average more than 50 percent of the student body at NS will spend four or more hours on an electronic device every day. Technology has become a huge part of our lives. We depend upon technology for things like homework, socializing, teaching, and much more; however, this increased dependence on technology has come with tradeoffs, including the powerful impact it has on our sleep.
According to a 2011 sleep poll created by the National Sleep Foundation, four in ten Americans have their phone in bed with them when trying to fall asleep.
“My guess is the majority of teenagers probably fall asleep with a device in hand,” Snow College professor Nick Marsing said, “which doesn’t let your brain prepare to go to sleep. Everything from the blue light to the intensity and directionality of the light coming into your eyes tells your brain that it’s time to be awake.”
Throughout history, we have been getting progressively less sleep overall. This is almost entirely traceable to the creation of artificial light. When we bombard our brain with light it keeps our brain active, this then makes it harder to fall asleep.
Before the creation of artificial light people went to bed when the sun went down and woke up when it started to become light outside. This was because they couldn’t work or see when the sun went down. Now because of artificial light, we have the option to stay up all hours.
“It’s better when I don’t use technology before I fall asleep,” said junior Terra Smith.
With our increased use of technology, smartphones in particular, many people are spending hours in front of screens right before bedtime.
“I should probably put my phone farther away from my bed,” senior Mia Swapp stated. “I start watching YouTube or reading a book on my phone. I look at the clock and think I should go to bed now after one more chapter or one more episode. Then I check the clock again and it’s suddenly one in the morning.”
Every time we change the amount of light entering our eyes they have to adjust to the new conditions. This is the worst during times we are on our electronics for hours on end. When you are doing something like scrolling through Instagram, the amount of light you are letting into your eyes changes every second forcing your brain to remain extremely active.
“Blue light can also reduce the amount of time you spend in slow-wave and rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep,” the National Sleep Foundation said, “two stages of the sleep cycle that are vital for cog- nitive functioning.”
When we have kept our mind active into the night it not only makes it harder to fall asleep, but also a less fulfilling rest. Our minds need time to wind down and relax before we go to bed in order to attain REM sleep.
“One of the other challenges aside from the problem of getting to sleep with technology is staying asleep with technology,” Marsing stated, “Your phone on the nightstand goes bzzz bzzz and suddenly you’re awake just enough to realize, should I answer it?”
Many students report being awake at 3 a.m. and wanting to talk or share something funny with their friends. When our phone receives a notification at night we automatically wake up and have to check to see what is going on.
“This ties into FOMO, the fear of missing out or being excluded,” Marsing stated, “and that’s why people keep those notifications on because they don’t want to miss something.”
In our current society, we revolve our lives around friends, gossip, and information. We rely heavily on the flow of information. Have you ever felt your phone ring or vibrate and when you went to pull it out there was actually nothing there? This is called a phantom ring and is caused by the compulsive need for knowing what is going on.
It is the same when you’re sleeping, you wake up because of a notification and just have to know what is going on at two in the morning.
“No notification from this time to this time is a great idea,” Marsing stated, “but unfortunately the phone is still there. If someone wakes up in the middle of the night instead of get- ting up to get a drink of water they check their phone.”
Even when we put our phones on silent mode we will wake up and immediately check our notifications. We have then just pushed a bunch of light into our eyes and restimulated the brain.
“Half an hour before bed, no screen,” Marsing stated, “It keeps your brain super active so your brain doesn’t have a chance to calm down.”
