Media Use and Child Sleep: The Impact of Content, Timing, and Environment
The article, “Media Use and Child Sleep: The Impact of Content, Timing and Environment” by researchers Michelle Garrison, Kimberly Liekweg and Dimitri Christakis explored the effects of how media affects young children’s sleep. Previous research has demonstrated that the use of media can adversely affect children’s sleep, but none of the studies looked at the type of content accessed, the time children viewed media, or children’s “co-use of television” (simultaneous use of video-games and computer usage while watching television). Garrison, Liekweg, and Christakis sent out to studied the effects of these three factors through the use of surveys and media diaries of 617 families (30).
The trial of this study was focused primarily on three to five year old children from English-speaking homes. Parents of these children filled out surveys that determined the sleep habits of their children such as “sleep-onset latency, repeated night wakings, nightmares, difficulty waking in the morning, and daytime tiredness” (30). Parents also completed a media diary for one week to track how much time their children used media and time spent on media and the content accessed (31).
The results from this research unveiled several links between media use and its effect on children’s sleep. Children with televisions in their rooms averaged an additional forty minutes of television, with comparatively more disturbing and violent content (32). This means that in addition, the content of media can further induce more sleep problems. The research revealed this group consequently exhibited greater fatigue during the day (32). Two factors directly contributed to children’s sleep problems are evening media usage and daytime violent programs. A factor that did not contribute was the use of “daytime nonviolent media” (34).
Overall this article concluded that the amount and type of media exposure, particularly before bed, influenced the quantity and quality of sleep a child was able to receive. Late night media viewing not only postpones children’s sleep but also exposes them to blue light, which disrupts their melatonin cycles (an enzyme produced in the body) that help them sleep (30). This disruption leads to sleep disturbance, nightmares, trouble falling asleep, and fatigue.
While vigorous research was conducted in this study, it relied on parent surveys, which are influenced by opinion and observation (34). Parents may not want to disclose how much media their children are really watching and it would be nearly impossible for all 617 parents to accurately track all of their media consumption, especially with children with bedroom televisions (34).
Reference[edit]
Garrison, M. M., K. Liekweg, and D. A. Christakis. “Media Use and Child Sleep: The Impact of Content, Timing, and Environment.” Pediatrics 128.1 (2011): 29-35. Print.
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