Being on a phone once in bed can be detrimental to a child’s sleep, according to a new study. recommended that children not use screens in the hour before bed to ensure they sleep well. But for parents and guardians, it can be near impossible to win this battle. The end of the day — when school, extracurricular activities, and homework are (hopefully) finally done — is the window that many kids have for downtime. They often won’t give up their phones without a fight. children in New Zealand ages 11 to 14 found that using phones in the two hours before they went to bed didn’t interfere with how much sleep they got — they simply went to bed later and got up later. being on their phones once they were in bed was detrimental to their sleep. Using phones in interactive ways under the covers — for things such as gaming and multitasking — was worse for kids’ sleep than using them more passively, for things such as watching movies. But all of the activity interfered. One limitation of the study is that it focused on younger teenagers, said Brosnan, who is also the director of Screen wise, a nonprofit that promotes digital wellness. The effects of using phones before bed could be different in younger children or older teens. Just as it’s important to make sure phones don’t interfere with sleep, parents also need to ensure they don’t interfere with kids’ education, extracurricular activities, and face-to-face time with family and friends. One policy is having kids leave their phones at home when they go to school. Children might also be required to put their phones away while they are doing their homework and at the dinner table. Likewise, while it’s generally a bad idea to let kids use phones while they are doing homework — our brains can’t multitask, so all that checking of social apps is a distraction — there are times when they might need internet access to do research for schoolwork. Or they might need to contact a friend with questions about an assignment.
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Wednesday, October 1, 2025