MEDIA DEVICES USE AND SLEEP QUALITY 5
The Effects of Electronic Media Devices on the Quality of Sleep
LS 3010 Foundations for Undergraduate
Torri Sims
Northcentral University
Torri-overall this was a nicely executed assignment. You will find my specific comments below. My comments along with your corrections should be listed on your next Weeks assignment. You earned an A.
The Effects of Electronic Media Devices on the Quality of Sleep
Today, the world sees a shift due to the existing communication technologies that have resulted in a trend where young and old are continually using their devices for various purposes such as communication and browsing. Browsing probably would benefit from a definition or description. Young users are continually using the devices even during their sleep time leading to a question whether the trend has a notable effect on their quality of sleep. This implies that adults are responsible users. There are various researchers that have attempted to evaluate the relationship between the continued use of the devices and the quality of sleep. There is a notable impact that is not necessarily strong where young and adolescent of the devices showed low quality sleep and more frequent sleeping problems. This sentence would benefit from being reworded.
A study carried out in 2014 that involved 1287 learners aged between 12 and 18 years indicated that children who are frequent media users reported more sleeping problems than children who are not (King, Delfabbro, Zwaans & Kaptsis, 2014). The study showed that the problems may vary from one child to the other depending on age and the frequency of media use. The study did not point out the exact reasons behind the findings, but the results resonate with a study carried out in 2015 that reported that adolescents and preadolescents using the devices past 9 pm experienced sleeping problems. The continued use of the media devices past 9 pm impacted the sleep quality among young adolescents (Bruni, Settee, Fontanesi, Baiocco, Laghi & Baumgartner, 2015). This can be cited as Bruni et al. The participants did not have enough sleep, which is one of the primary reasons why the quality of sleep was affected. The two studies noted that there is a need for younger individuals to have enough sleep, thus all distractions must be eliminated.
Further, a 2017 study showed that children who do not use media and communication devices had better sleep quality and duration of sleep than who continually used the devices (Dube, Khan, Loehr, Chu & Veugelers, 2017). The quality of sleep is dependent on the duration of sleep and children without the devices are likely to sleep for the recommended time. Is this information derived from the cited study? If so, that needs to be clearer.The study also raised the sleep duration issue where the devices prevent the young learners from having enough sleep. Additionally, some of the users suffer from sleep interruptions where the devices ring or provide notifications. The users come from the sleep to respond to the calls and notifications which interferes with the quality of their sleep. This was noted by the Dube et al., 2017 as one of the reasons why young learners using devices experience low quality of sleep.
The correlation between continued use of communication devices and the sleep quality can be influenced by additional factors such as stress, anxieties, and family issues among others. The research studies carried out above did not fully look into these factors that may act as confounding variables. A study conducted in 2015 showed there is no correlation between use of the media devices and quality of sleep among adolescents (Hysing, Pallesen, Stormark, Jakobsen, Lundervold & Sivertsen, 2015). In addition, a 2017 study indicated that removing the devices for at least 48 hours during judo camps did not have a positive impact on sleep (Dunican, Martin, Halson, Reale, Dawson, Caldwell & Eastwood, 2017). These two studies refute the perception that continued use of the devices affect sleep quality. In summary, there is minimal correlation between the sleep quality and the continued use of media and electronic devices. To demonstrate that, you would need to complete a meta-analysis or review an existing one.More empirical studies should be carried out to determine with certainty the impact of continued use of devices on sleep quality. These studies must address the influence of all confounding variables.
References
Bruni, O., Sette, S., Fontanesi, L., Baiocco, R., Laghi, F., & Baumgartner, E. (2015). Technology use and sleep quality in preadolescence and adolescence. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 11(12), 1433-1441.
Dube, N., Khan, K., Loehr, S., Chu, Y., & Veugelers, P. (2017). The use of entertainment and communication technologies before sleep could affect sleep and weight status: a population-based study among children. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 14(1), 97.
Dunican, I. C., Martin, D. T., Halson, S. L., Reale, R. J., Dawson, B. T., Caldwell, J. A., & Eastwood, P. R. (2017). The effects of the removal of electronic devices for 48 hours on sleep in elite judo athletes. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 31(10), 2832-2839.
Hysing, M., Pallesen, S., Stormark, K. M., Jakobsen, R., Lundervold, A. J., & Sivertsen, B. (2015). Sleep and use of electronic devices in adolescence: results from a large population-based study. BMJ Open, 5(1), e006748.
King, D. L., Delfabbro, P. H., Zwaans, T., & Kaptsis, D. (2014). Sleep interference effects of pathological electronic media use during adolescence. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 12(1), 21-35.
