Phone use at night worsens sleep and mental health in kids, especially cyberbullying victims

By Dr. Chinta SidharthanReviewed by Lily Ramsey, LLMSep 6 2024

Study: Nighttime Phone Use and Past Exposure to Cyberbullying and Their Impact on Sleep and Psychological Wellbeing in Australian Children Aged 7 to 19 Years. Image Credit: Aleksandra Suzi/Shutterstock.com

In a recent study published in the journal Adolescents, researchers examined whether phone use during nighttime and cyberbullying were independently associated with quality of sleep and childhood psychological distress and whether nighttime phone use moderated the association between cyberbullying and psychological distress and poor sleep during childhood.

Background

Extensive research now supports the association between the use of digital devices at night time and sleep issues such as delayed sleep onset and interrupted and abbreviated sleep. The use of mobile phones at night is especially common among adolescents with the increased use of social media and text messaging past bedtime.

The widespread use of mobile phones has also exposed children to cyberbullying, which includes hostile behaviors such as cyberstalking, online harassment, flaming or the repeated use of intimidating or insulting language against someone in an online forum, and doxing, which is the act of making personal information public on the internet without consent.

These acts of cyberbullying can impact a child or adolescent’s psychological well-being and trigger mental health issues. One of the key concerns about nighttime phone use is that it allows cyberbullying to occur even at night time, further impacting psychological health and sleep quality.

About the study

The present study examined whether phone use during nighttime and cyberbullying showed independent associations with psychological distress and impaired sleep among children.

The researchers also examined whether nighttime phone use influenced the connection between cyberbullying and deterioration in sleep quality and psychological well-being, with a focus on gender and age.

The researchers used a cross-sectional study design to investigate the association using archival data from a survey called Resilient Youth Australia, conducted among students between the ages of 7 and 19 years from 918 schools across the country.

The participants for the survey were recruited from private and public schools to ensure that children from all socioeconomic backgrounds were included in the study.

A validated patient health questionnaire for measuring anxiety and depression was used to assess psychological distress.

Children were queried about how often they experienced specific psychological wellness-associated problems in the previous two weeks, and their responses were coded to determine normal, borderline, and clinically significant levels of psychological distress.

Additional questionnaires were used to determine nighttime phone use frequency, sleep durations, and frequency of cyberbullying experiences.

Phone use at night time was categorized between never and more than five times a week, while sleep duration of 8 hours every night was categorized between never and always. The frequency of cyberbullying was graded between never and equal to or more than once in the previous term.

The students completed the online survey on their laptops or mobile devices during class time under the supervision of a teacher. Furthermore, their data was anonymized, and only aggregated data was used for the analysis.

Phone use at night, duration of sleep, and psychological distress were analyzed as categorical variables, with psychological distress data being dichotomized as being normal to mild or moderate to severe.

Furthermore, the analysis was stratified by age, based on whether the student was in primary or secondary school and gender. Based on findings from other studies, the researchers hypothesized that girls were more vulnerable to cyberbullying and were at a higher risk of poor sleep and psychological distress.

Results

The study found that phone use during nighttime was common among children, especially among those in secondary school, with more than 60% of the students reporting phone use at night at least once a week.

Additionally, close to 15% of students reported experiencing cyberbullying in the previous term, with boys being cyberbullied more in primary schools and cyberbullying in secondary schools being greater among girls.

Furthermore, the children who were being cyberbullied were found to be more likely to use their phones at night, which was associated with worse sleep outcomes and psychological distress. A significant number of children did not meet the recommended guidelines for sleep duration.

One-fourth of the primary school children reported not getting the recommended 8 hours of nighttime sleep, as did 40% of the secondary school students, especially girls.

Girls in secondary schools also reported greater levels of psychological distress, with the gender-based differences becoming more apparent towards adolescence. However, irrespective of age or gender, students who experienced cyberbullying reported having greater psychological distress and sleep deficits.

Phone use at night was found to moderate the relationship between cyberbullying and impaired sleep among students of all ages and genders.

However, the moderating effect of phone use during nighttime on the association between cyberbullying and psychological distress was greater among boys in secondary school.

Conclusions

Overall, the findings indicated that phone use at nighttime among children and adolescents was significantly associated with sleep deficits and higher levels of psychological distress, especially among children who were cyberbullied.

The study highlighted the need to manage the use of digital devices at nighttime to improve psychological well-being and sleep quality among children of all ages and genders.

The researchers also recommended further research on the effects of cyberbullying during nighttime phone use.