Addiction to social networking leads to sleep deprivation among Millennials

By Audrey Courter

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As her phone vibrates on her night stand two inches from her head at one in the morning, junior Valerie Hicks wakes up suddenly to see who has texted her. This is a regular occurrence throughout the night, Valerie said, which leaves her tired the following day.

“I often fall asleep while texting people, so when I hear my phone I have this urge to text whoever it is back no matter what time it might be,” Valerie said. “I feel like if I don’t always communicate with people then they will get upset with me and I would be missing something socially.”

Valerie is not the only student who has sleep patterns like this. According to a report from December 2009 Pew Research Center, a non-profit organization that researches trends, Millennials all over the country are not getting the recommended amount of sleep due to their desire to stay connected socially.

Millennials, the newest generation, with ages ranging from kids reaching adolescence to 30 years old, have increased levels of tiredness that not only affect mood and fatigue levels but also school performance according to the report.

Valerie’s mother, Judith Hicks, is a baby boomer and said she went through the same process as her daughter when she was a teenager of fatigue and tiredness, which affected school performance. She said she still experiences this today but for different reasons other than the desire to stay socially connected. She said her desire to stay current in the world motivates her to be up to date with technology and have her phone near the bedside.

“Millennials don’t know any other way; it’s what is out there it’s the acceptance. I put the phone in my life for convenience and it’s not convenient for me at this time (of night),” Mrs. Hicks said.

Although Valerie said she lies in bed for eight to nine hours each night, she technically only gets five to six hours of sleep. The lights may be off in her room and the light setting on her phone changed to its lowest option, but according to Valerie the nightly texts sent and received from her phone vary from 70 to 100.

“I don’t have to study at night and my parents think I’m sleeping, so it’s easy to text; plus I can’t fall asleep before 10 o’ clock,” Valerie said.

According to a study from Kidshealth.org, teens are supposed to get eight and one-half to nine hours of sleep per night but because the hormone melatonin, which tells the brain to fall asleep, is produced later at night, teens fall asleep later than older and younger generations. Most teens end up texting later into the night, according to the website because they already have a later start than do older generations.

School nurse Carol Gelatt, said that students need to decrease any stimulation before bed in order to fall asleep faster and get a better night’s sleep.

“Students need to wind down for the night to help fall asleep better and help the brain relax,” Gelatt said. “They can do this by not drinking caffeine, do any exercise, watch TV or play Xbox a couple hours before bed.”

Sophomore Craig Maude gets more sleep than most teens at about seven hours a night, but that still does not meet the recommendation for teens to meet their fullest potential in school. Like Valerie, his phone may be a reason for that.

“I leave my phone on my bed so I have an easy way to talk to my friends and I can hear it if there’s ever an emergency,” Maude said. “If I ever fall asleep texting, in the middle of the night somehow I will be able to hear the texts and wake up to respond. In the morning, I become tired and lazy with my schoolwork.”

Valerie said fatigue from only receiving half the advised hours of sleep does not affect her immediately, but throughout the day it settles in. She said she becomes socially affected as she rambles on during the day and it also affects her school studies. Though she may study for three hours, she said she was still not able to retain the information because it takes her a lot longer to process the schoolwork.

“Exhaustion can affect moods because lack of sleep in class can cause you to fall asleep during the class and you end up missing everything the teacher said,” Valerie said.

Maude said he knows that when he texts while studying nothing gets accomplished, so he said he leaves his phone off during that time. But at night his phone is on the charger located near his bedside.

“My phone is a way to stay connected to people when I’m not with and I don’t have to worry about calling them,” Maude said.

The desire for technology and social connection affects many aspects of the daily life, especially when it comes to the time for “lights out.”  When Valerie is waiting for someone to text her back, she said it becomes harder to fall asleep than just simply lying in bed. She said she is a really light sleeper, and it’s easy for her to wake up in the middle of the night to texts, especially when she places her phone within easy reach in case anyone does text her.

“I randomly wake up in the night and think, ‘Oh, wait, I have to text them back; I fell asleep. Oh, wait, it’s 3 a.m.’” Valerie said. “I think it has only been five minutes, but in reality, it has been three hours.”

Although being connected socially has its rewards, Valerie said texting doesn’t need to be a habit.

“I feel more refreshed when I don’t wake up in the middle of the night texting because my sleep was not interrupted,” Valerie said. “It will be hard to not text at night, but being successful in life is more rewarding than finding out something happened socially.”