Associations between adolescents' daily digital technology use and sleep

Abstract

PURPOSE: Although studies have found associations between greater digital technology use and poorer sleep health among adolescents, these studies typically rely on self-reported sleep and cross-sectional designs. This study applied an ecological momentary assessment design to examine how adolescents' daily digital technology use relates to self-reported sleep and wearable-recorded sleep duration.

METHODS: A socioeconomically and ethnically diverse sample of 388 adolescents completed daily surveys of their digital technology use (i.e., messages sent, time for academics, time for leisure) and sleep for 2 weeks. Sleep duration was recorded through wearable devices among a subsample of 254 adolescents for an average of 3.4 days.

RESULTS: Adolescents who reported spending more time using digital technology for nonacademic purposes than their peers reported both shorter self-reported sleep duration and later bedtime (between-person associations). Adolescents who sent more messages than their peers also had shorter sleep duration as recorded by wearable devices. In contrast, few associations were observed when comparisons were made within-individuals with adolescents used as their own controls.

CONCLUSIONS: Consistent with prior research, adolescents who reported greater nonacademic daily digital technology use relative to their peers exhibited worse sleep outcomes as measured via self-reports and wearable devices. However, associations with sleep outcomes were weak and inconsistent when adolescents were used as their own controls. Future research should continue to explore between- and within-person associations between digital technology use and sleep to understand potential key differences.