Your phone might be the reason you can’t sleep

By Dr. Priyom Bose, Ph.D.Reviewed by Benedette Cuffari, M.Sc.Apr 4 2025

A new study links screen use in bed—especially scrolling social media and streaming—to higher rates of insomnia among college students.

Study: How and when screens are used: Comparing different screen activities and sleep in Norwegian university students. Image Credit: DimaBerlin / Shutterstock.com

In a recent study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, researchers investigate whether electronic screen exposure in bed, particularly social media use, affects sleep as compared to other screen-based activities in students.

Why do students sleep less?

Proper sleep is essential for maintaining both mental and physical health. In fact, poor sleep negatively affects memory, attention span, and other aspects of cognitive functioning, which can subsequently influence academic performance.

Typically, students in higher education sleep less than the recommended seven to nine hours. For example, a recent study highlighted that 30% of Norwegian students sleep six to seven hours or less every night, with females more likely to develop insomnia. Between 2010 and 2018, the incidence of insomnia among Norwegian students has risen significantly.

Previous studies have reported that digital media use including gaming, watching television, and using social media influences sleep quality and duration. These studies have also demonstrated that the rise in screen time over the past several decades may have further contributed to short sleep times.

To date, most studies analyzing the effects of digital media on sleep have primarily focused on its impact in children and adolescents, of which include delayed bedtime and increased sleep onset latency.

The advent of smartphones has significantly increased screen use prior to bed or in bed, particularly among students. Screen use in bed adversely influences sleep due to light exposure from the screen that suppresses melatonin secretion and delays the circadian rhythm, as well as notifications from devices that interrupt sleep after its onset.

Social media use also contributes to delaying bedtime and displacing sleep. However, it remains unclear whether social media use causes sleep disturbances to a greater extent as compared to other screen activities.

About the study

The current study estimated the time students spend using screens in bed and its association with sleep disturbances. Data from Studentenes Helse- og Trivselsundersøkelse (SHOT2022) survey, which is a national cross-sectional study that included all students enrolled in higher education in Norway, were used for this analysis. All relevant data of full-time students between 18 and 28 years of age were collected between February and April 2022.

Different forms of electronic media use were recorded, of which included watching movies and television series, checking social media, browsing the internet, listening to music, podcasts, or audiobooks, and reading study-related content, after they went to bed.

Based on these responses, the study participants were segregated into three groups including ‘Checking social media’, ‘Social media + other’, and ‘Non-social media’. The mean time spent on screen-based activities in bed was estimated.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) criteria for insomnia was used to evaluate symptoms of insomnia and sleep duration. Time in bed (TIB), sleep onset latency (SOL), and wake after sleep onset (WASO) were assessed with specific questions.

Multiple logistic regression modelling was used to understand the effects of different forms of screen time use in bed on sleep among students.

Screen time in bed linked to higher insomnia risk

Approximately 35.1% of students who were enrolled in higher education in Norway completed the web-based questionnaires. As compared to men, female study participants were younger, more likely to use screens in bed, experience insomnia symptoms, and report longer sleep durations.

Over 31% of study participants who did not use screens in bed reported insomnia symptoms, among whom their average sleep duration was 7.56 hours. Comparatively, 34.4% of screen users reported insomnia with a sleep duration of 7.57 hours.

Regression models adjusted for age and sex revealed that those who did not use screens in bed were 24% less likely to report insomnia. However, no difference in sleep duration was observed between screen users and non-screen users.

Approximately 69% of young adults who used screens in bed used social media along with other screen-based activities, particularly browsing the internet and watching movies. Interestingly, the association between screen time and insomnia was similar across groups. Approximately 15% of participants only used social media, whereas another 15% of the study cohort abstained from social media.

The analysis suggests that an additional one hour of screen time after going to bed was associated with a 59% increased risk of insomnia symptoms in students and an average reduction of 24 minutes in sleep duration.

Study participants who only used social media were least likely to report insomnia symptoms while also sleeping for the longest duration. In contrast, those who were engaged in social media, along with other screen-based activities, exhibited the highest proportions reporting short sleep duration and insomnia symptoms.

Conclusions

The study findings demonstrate that screen time in bed was associated with an increased risk of developing insomnia symptoms, regardless of the screen activity. Future studies are needed to elucidate the mechanisms that may contribute to the negative relationship between screen use in bed and sleep disturbances.