Association Between Electronic Media Usage and Sleep Disturbances

Abstract

The average U.S. adult fails to regularly attain the quantity and quality of sleep recommended by the Center for Disease Control (2019). One potential contributor to this epidemic is the increasing rate at which individuals utilize electronic media devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets, and televisions) before sleep. Usage of these devices has been reported to impair both overall sleep quality and the time it takes to fall asleep after entering bed (sleep onset latency; SOL) in American college students as well as in non-American adults. The present study examined the relationship between electronic media device usage after bedtime on sleep quality and SOL across a broad range of U.S. adults. Adult participants (Mage = 39 years, SDage = 11 years) residing across the U.S. were recruited from a national crowdsourcing web service (Amazon Mechanical Turk). Participants (N = 98, 60% men) completed demographic measures as well as questions related to sleep quality and SOL. There was a significant positive correlation between electronic media device usage after bedtime and poor sleep quality, r(96) = .28, p = .005. The relationship between electronic media device usage after bedtime and SOL was also statistically significant, r(96) = .59, p < .001. These results are consistent with previous research examining the relationship between electronic media device usage after bedtime and both sleep quality and SOL. These results contribute to previous literature, which suggests limiting nighttime electronic media device usage as part of positive sleep hygiene and overall healthier sleep.