Phones only help teens sleep because they use their phone until they fall asleep if they are allowed!
Research suggests that teens have a worse sleep if they use a screen in the hours leading up to bed. If we drink soft drink or eat chocolate or run around the block – none of these things are great for sleep.
Parents know best and this is where the boundaries start. Many experts recommend that parents give kids a reality check by setting limits on phone usage, chocolate usage and soft drink intake – that the whole family follows.
To help teens learn self-regulation skills, Catherine Steiner-Adair, author of The Big Disconnect suggests using technology to tame technology: “Applications like Rescue Time and Freedom are a great resource for limiting their distractions online.”
These applications monitor Internet usage and can be set to block distracting sites after a set amount of time. Such tools are particularly good for kids who find themselves too distracted or overwhelmed by social media when they’re doing homework or before bed. And there is probably an app to regulate chocolate and soft drink too!
Erica Lindeman says
The light from the mobile screen also has an effect on not getting the person sleepy. I think the hard part is to let the teens learn to discipline themselves from using too much of their phone at bedtime.