The monsters keeping our children awake at night aren’t the stuff of fairy tales — they’re made of pixels and social media likes. A comprehensive study is pulling back the curtain on a troubling trend: nighttime phone use turning bedtime into a battleground for sleep and mental health. The research, conducted in Australia, reveals a troubling connection between late-night texting, cyberbullying, and psychological distress among kids as young as seven years-old.
Scientists say the childhood rite of passage of staying up past bedtime has taken a dark turn in the digital age. The study, published in the journal Adolescents, analyzed data from over 53,000 Australian children between the ages of seven and 19. For many kids, “lights out” is just the beginning of their nightly online activities — and the consequences are more serious than just next-day drowsiness.
The data collection took place between March and December 2019, utilizing a questionnaire that examined various aspects of resilience and well-being. This survey included demographic items, risk and protective behavior items, and optional risky behavior items.
To understand how the kids were feeling, the researchers used a special set of questions called the PHQ-4. This asked the kids if they had been feeling nervous, worried, sad, or not interested in things. They could answer from “Never” to “Nearly every day.”
Other questions included how often the kids used their phones at night, how well they slept, or if they had been bullied online. For example, they asked if kids got eight hours of sleep most nights and how many times they sent messages on their phones late at night. They also asked if the kids had been bullied at school recently.
One of the most striking discoveries was that about a third of primary school children (ages 7-11) and more than 60% of secondary school students (ages 12-19) reported using their phones at night at least once a week. This nighttime phone use was associated with shorter sleep duration and increased psychological distress across all age groups.
But it’s not just about losing sleep. The study also found that children who experienced cyberbullying were more likely to use their phones at night and report sleep issues and psychological distress. Approximately 15% of the children surveyed had experienced cyberbullying in the past school term, with rates peaking in early adolescence.
“Pre-teens are at higher risk for socio-emotional disorders because they are at a developmental stage where they are less prepared cognitively, behaviorally and neurobiologically,” says study co-author Dr. Stephanie Centofanti, a researcher from the University of South Australia, in a statement.
Source: https://studyfinds.org/secret-phone-use-ruining-kids/?nab=0