In this assignment I’ve learned that there have been studies that have shown
that screentime (e.g. TV and videogaming, as well as cellular phones) is linked to
sleep problems along with poorer developmental outcomes in children. Although
they don’t seem to think it affects infants and toddlers as much as it does older
kids, but it does still show to have effects on them as well.
It also states that “specifically, individuals who are exposed to or have access to
a portable media device at bedtime have significantly reduced night-time sleep
and increased poor quality of sleep (defined as difficulties in sleep initiation and
maintenance)(Cheung, C.H.M. et al.). When children are allowed to take their
phones or media devices to bed with them, it causes them not only to have trouble
falling asleep, but for them to not sleep as long as they usually would have either.
Yet these studies did not find any association between the touchscreen usage and
the number of times a child wakes up throughout the night.
I thought it was interesting to find out that in previous studies in older children,
it wasn’t so much the exposure or access to the devices that affected their sleep as
it was the content on the device, the timing of the content, and their enviorments
that affected their sleep patterns.
In the end, the results showed that TV and computer exposure, and even the
use of a touchscreen device, played a tremendous role in many different sleep
attributes. If we think about it, younger children can “catch up” on their sleep
throughout the day and take naps while older children cannot. Which will
eventually lead to poor grades or behavior in school due to them being tired from
the lack of sleep. Yet, I think it all still really comes down to the child and what
their body can and cannot handle. Since each and every child is different, some can
handle things the next will be able to and that the last has excelled on.
