You swore you’d only check one more message, but somehow, it’s 2:47 a.m., your eyes are burning, and you’re still scrolling and you know it's going to make the morning rough.
If you've ever blamed stress, caffeine, or a noisy roommate for your crappy sleep, you're in for a big surprise. Because new research just dropped a truth bomb on this common bedtime habit most people don’t even question.
Let’s break down what’s really going on and how to fix it before your sleep debt spirals out of control.
Sleep is crucial for physical and mental well-being, cognitive function (attention, memory), and academic performance. Insufficient or poor-quality sleep has negative impacts on mental and physical health, and even longevity(1).
College students are identified as a group particularly prone to insufficient sleep duration, falling short of the recommended 7-9 hours per night(2), and data from American and Norwegian students indicated a significant percentage sleeping less than 7 hours and experiencing other sleep problems like insomnia(3).
Link between digital media use and poor sleep: There is a well-documented association between digital media use (TV, gaming, social media) and poor sleep outcomes. The rise in screen time among young people is also noted as a potential contributing factor to shorter sleep times(4).
There is a gap in the research because existing research primarily focused on children and adolescents and not on young adults. Screen use before bed or in bed is more strongly linked to poor sleep than overall screen time(5).
The widespread use of smartphones in bed among young adults is specifically mentioned in the research. A Norwegian study found a mean total screen time in bed of 46 minutes among students(6).
There seems to be four potential pathways through which screen use in bed may negatively impact sleep:
Displacement: Screen use directly reduces the time available for sleep.
Melatonin suppression: Light emitted from screens can suppress the secretion of melatonin, a hormone that regulates the sleep-wake cycle, and delays the circadian rhythm.
Increased arousal: Engaging in screen-based activities can increase cognitive and emotional arousal, making it harder to fall asleep. Social media is hypothesized to be particularly relevant here.
Sleep interruption: Notifications from devices can wake individuals up after sleep onset.
Given the mixed evidence and the need for more research on young adults, a recent study aimed to investigate(7):
This study utilized data from the cross-sectional Students’ Health and Wellbeing Study of 2022 and included n=45,202 participants aged 18-28 years. Regression analyses were used to assess the relationship between screen time in bed and sleep, comparing social media use with other activities(7).
Increased screen time is linked to worse sleep: The study found a significant positive association between screen time after going to bed and the likelihood of reporting insomnia symptoms, as well as a negative association with sleep duration.
Specifically, a 1-hour increase in screen time after going to bed was associated with an increase in the odds of reporting symptoms of insomnia of 59% and a reduction of sleep duration of 24 minutes.
Figure 1: Predicted probabilities of insomnia across time screen time, separately for three activity groups. SM, Social media. Adapted from Gunnhild et al 2025(7)
Figure 2. Predicted sleep duration across time screen time, separately for three activity groups. SM, Social media. Adapted from Gunnhild et al 2025(7)
Social media use is the most common, often combined with other activities: Most participants (69%) used social media in combination with other screen activities in bed. Around 15% used only social media, and another 15% reported not using social media at all.
A counterintuitive finding regarding social media use alone: Surprisingly, students who only used social media in bed reported the lowest proportion of insomnia symptoms and the longest sleep duration. Those who only engaged in other activities (excluding social media) reported the highest proportion of insomnia symptoms and the shortest sleep duration.
Association between screen time and sleep is similar across activities: The strength of the association between total screen time in bed and sleep outcomes did not significantly differ between those using social media and those engaging in other screen activities.
Non-screen users had better sleep quality: Students who did not use screens in bed had 24% lower odds of reporting insomnia symptoms compared to screen users, although there was no significant difference in sleep duration. 'Non-screen' use could involve reading a book, writing, drawing, etc.
Relevance of timing and location: The study supports the idea that screen use close to bedtime and in bed is particularly relevant for sleep disruption.
Socialization as a protective factor (for social media only users): The better sleep reported by those only using social media might be linked to the social aspect of these platforms, fostering a sense of connection and belonging, which could be protective against sleep problems(8).
Technology as a sleep aid: Some students might use non-social media screen activities (like watching TV or listening to music) as a way to try and fall asleep, potentially indicating pre-existing sleep difficulties in this group(9).
Conscious avoidance of social media by poor sleepers: Students experiencing sleep problems might deliberately avoid social media in bed due to perceived negative impacts, potentially explaining the worse sleep in the "other activities" and "no screen use" groups.
Support for the displacement hypothesis: The relatively similar association between screen time and sleep across different activities might suggest that the mere displacement of sleep by screen time is a significant factor.
The findings suggest that public health messages should focus on reducing overall screen time in bed rather than specifically targeting social media. Future research using longitudinal designs is crucial to establish the direction of causality between screen use and sleep.
The study highlights that the relationship between screen use and sleep likely varies significantly between individuals(10).
It also acknowledges that the findings from this Western culture might not be generalizable to Eastern cultures, where the link between social media and sleep has been shown to be stronger(11).
Future research should investigate the specific types of content consumed, interactions on social media, and the impact of responding to notifications after initially falling asleep, are understudied areas requiring more attention.
This study helps us understand how using screens in bed, like phones, tablets, or laptops can affect how well college students sleep. It found that the more time students spend on screens before going to sleep, the worse their sleep usually is. That part wasn’t a surprise.
But here’s what was surprising: students who only used social media at bedtime slept better than some others. That’s like expecting junk food to always make people feel worse, but then discovering that one kind of junk food might not be as bad as we thought. This means we need to learn more about why that is. Maybe things like feeling connected to friends online plays a role.
In the end, the big takeaway is this: too much screen time before bed is still a problem. It's like trying to fall asleep with bright lights shining in your eyes. It confuses your brain and keeps you awake. So it’s important to build better bedtime habits, like turning off screens earlier.
To really figure out what’s going on, future studies should track people’s habits over time and look more closely at exactly how they’re using their screens. That will help create better advice to help everyone sleep better.
If you're looking to get more deep and restful sleep, you may want to consider adding RESTED-AF to your nightly routine.
RESTED-AF works to promote increased anabolic processes such as muscle breakdown recovery and promote higher rates of protein synthesis, in addition to improving daily cognitive function such as mental acuity and information retention.
References:
1. Owens J: Insufficient sleep in adolescents and young adults: an update on causes and consequences. Pediatrics 134:e921-32, 2014
2. Watson NF, Badr MS, Belenky G, et al: Recommended Amount of Sleep for a Healthy Adult: A Joint Consensus Statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society. J Clin Sleep Med 11:591-2, 2015
3. Sivertsen B, Vedaa Ø, Harvey AG, et al: Sleep patterns and insomnia in young adults: A national survey of Norwegian university students. J Sleep Res 28:e12790, 2019
4. Twenge JM, Krizan Z, Hisler G: Decreases in self-reported sleep duration among U.S. adolescents 2009-2015 and association with new media screen time. Sleep Med 39:47-53, 2017
5. Brautsch LA, Lund L, Andersen MM, et al: Digital media use and sleep in late adolescence and young adulthood: A systematic review. Sleep Med Rev 68:101742, 2023
6. Hjetland GJ, Skogen JC, Hysing M, et al: The Association Between Self-Reported Screen Time, Social Media Addiction, and Sleep Among Norwegian University Students. Front Public Health 9:794307, 2021
7. Gunnhild Johnsen Hjetland JCS, Mari Hysing, Michael Gradisar and Børge Sivertsen: How and when screens are used: comparing different screen activities and sleep in Norwegian university students. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2025
8. Gordon AM, Carrillo B, Barnes CM: Sleep and social relationships in healthy populations: A systematic review. Sleep Med Rev 57:101428, 2021
9. Bauducco S, Pillion M, Bartel K, et al: A bidirectional model of sleep and technology use: A theoretical review of How much, for whom, and which mechanisms. Sleep Med Rev 76:101933, 2024
10. Daniels A, Pillion M, Rullo B, et al: Technology use as a sleep-onset aid: are adolescents using apps to distract themselves from negative thoughts? Sleep Adv 4:zpac047, 2023
11. Han X, Zhou E, Liu D: Electronic Media Use and Sleep Quality: Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Med Internet Res 26:e48356, 2024
