At Screen Sanity , we believe the road to big dreams is paved in…well…sleep!
Over the past year, we have had hundreds of conversations with parents, superintendents, police officers, pediatricians, pastors, business leaders, school counselors, and teachers about how to best manage technology and we were surprised by one of the biggest recommendations: letting kids sleep by getting devices out of kids’ bedrooms overnight.
We all know that our devices need to charge – and so do we! It’s no secret that we all need a good night’s sleep to live happy, healthy lives. Yet, did you know that 80% of teens use their phones when they are supposed to be sleeping – including many who stay up most of the night or wake for every notification? The device is probably in their room for a very practical reason, like listening to music or being the alarm clock, but as the New York Times explains, it often leads to “vamping” – staying up much of the night on technology, be it texting with friends or watching an endless loop of cat videos.
If you are looking for a simple way to help your family be more digitally healthy, we would encourage you to take this step: institute a device bedtime – a time that the device goes to get charged outside of their room.
Here are a few ways we’d like to help you brainstorm to make device bedtimes work in your family, with the hope that you will be able to reap these benefits:
It doesn’t take much to convince parents that device bedtimes are a good idea–but kids? They might not be quite so enthused. Anytime there is a new rule or boundary in place, you can expect your kiddos to push back, especially the longer they have had devices in their rooms. If it’s helpful, we’ve brainstormed some ways you could start the conversation with your kiddo(s):
At Screen Sanity, we believe that big changes start with small steps. We hope device bedtimes could be a simple step towards making your family become more digitally healthy and more deeply connected in 2024. Sweet dreams!
Screen Sanity Australia is proud to announce a new partnership with the Archewell Foundation, a nonprofit created by Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.