Put That Phone Down and Go To Sleep!

When you were a kid, did your parents ever tell you to “put that book/magazine/video game away and turn off the light?” Do you now hear yourself telling your own kids – or partner – to “put that phone down and go to sleep?”

Maybe you’ve been meaning to say it to yourself. I know I have!

It’s well-known, at this point in the 21st century, that the blue light emitted by devices like your phone, tablet or even your TV are not best friends with your circadian rhythm. They play games with each other. Sometimes they bicker:

11:30 pm
Circadian rhythm: “Hey man, it’s time to go to bed. Why don’t you dim yourself.”

Blue light: “What are you talking about? Can’t you see it’s morning?”

Circadian rhythm: “Hmm. Yeah, I see that now. It wouldn’t be this light if it was time to go to sleep. Sure, why don’t you stay awhile?”

6:00 am
Circadian rhythm: “Are you kidding me? I’ve only been asleep five hours? Damn you, blue light! This is all your fault!”

Blue light: “Hehe…”

Okay, that may be a silly way to think about it, but there’s some truth there. If you struggle to put down your phone when you should be sleeping, you are not alone.

There’s More to it Than Just Blue Light

Shining bright light right into your eyes isn’t the only bad behavior exhibited by your phone or tablet. It also serves up an endless smorgasbord of apps to entice, delight, and even frustrate you. For hours. And hours.

A new survey conducted by Mattress Next Day indicates that 68% of Americans use electronic devices right before bed. And 56% said they do it to wind down.

But it’s not really winding down when it’s so stimulating. There are so many different apps and so much to do.

Games!  Shopping!  News!  Movies & TV!  Reading!  Email!  Texting!

But social media apps are the biggest winners of our before-bed attention. We love to scroll, and Like, and add meaningful GIFs and emojis. And don’t forget to post 16 selfies of yourself and your amazing burger, fries, and frosty cocktail at your favorite pub.

You don’t even realize how much time is passing as you do a deep dive for decorating or Halloween costume ideas on Pinterest. Or you set out to watch one YouTube video on the best way to clean your grout or change your oil, and the next thing you know, you’ve watched nine 1980’s music videos and several compilations of dogs riding skateboards and cats falling off windowsills. Maybe you prefer checking out who’s making a fool of who on Twitter (okay, okay…X).

But maybe the most consuming of all are the short videos, fed to you one after the other in quick succession so you can’t help but watch the next one, and the next one. Facebook and TikTok and their algorithms have figured out exactly what you enjoy and have perfected serving it up to you in a way that keeps your eyeballs firmly planted on them and their advertisers.

I could go on for hours. Just like you do when you watch video after video of dogs talking to their owners by pushing word buttons on the floor. Yep, I see you. Right there with you friend.

So…put that phone down and go to sleep

What we need to do is be able to enjoy those little entertainments in a way that doesn’t eat into the important things in our lives, like our work, our family, our sleep. You might try imbibing in a little screen or social media time after dinner but make a habit of putting it away at least an hour before you intend to go to bed. That would certainly be better than what is all too easy to do – letting your phone dictate what time you actually, finally fall asleep

Read more about the love-hate relationship we and our sleep have with our phones and devices.

And seriously…put the phone down.