Impact of Digital Media Devices on Sleep and Mental Well-being

Running Head: Digital Media Devices and its impact on Sleep and Mental Well-
being
Impact of Digital Media Devices on Sleep
and Mental Well-being
Essay
System04104
9/9/2019

Digital Media Devices and its impact on Sleep and Mental Well-being
1
Impact of Digital Media Devices on the Health and Sleep of Australian People
The pervasive use of digital media devices and its adverse effect on the health and
sleep of Australian youth and teenagers is a serious concern. It has been found that addiction
of mobile phone, television, or any screen based media devices directly affect the wellbeing
of Australian people. The problem related to use of electronic devices like television and
mobile phones almost affect the health of all youngsters in all around the world. Although,
the introduction of digital media devices directly affects the sleep and health of Australian
youngsters and it reduces the sleep duration of these people who are addicted to such type of
devices. This essay summarises this issue through various researches and shows how digital
media devices are dangerously affecting the health and sleep pattern of Australian people,
especially the youngsters, young children, and teenagers. This essay considers the various
health related issues that arises because of excessive use of digital devices.
In Australia, almost four out of every ten people are facing serious issues related to
sleep quality (Parliament of Australia, 2019). Many people understand that they are suffering
from inadequate sleep because of their busy lifestyle, busy work schedule, or due to clinical
sleep disorder. However, every people in the country are well aware about the importance of
proper sleep duration and they know how important sleep is for their health. Sufficient and
quality sleep is necessary for the human health and therefore it is the urgent and necessary
requirement for the people to stay healthy and fit (Bartel, Richardson & Gradisar, 2018).
However, it has been found that people who are addicted to the social media or digital media
devices are habitual to go bed and sleep in very late night. It has been found that almost all
Australian are using smart phones and it is the necessity of life. The facilities of
entertainment from the smartphones make every people addicted of social media and digital
media such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc. However, these devices give many
benefits to the human world but these have some side effects on the health of people as well
(Smith, Hardy, Hale, & Gazmararian, 2019).

Digital Media Devices and its impact on Sleep and Mental Well-being
2
(Source: Green, Dagan, & Haim, 2018)
Large number of young children and youngsters who are addicted to operate these
devices in late night are suffering from inadequate of insufficient sleep. Sleep is an important
factor in human health that helps the people to stay mentally and physically fit (Hale, Li,
Hartstein, & LeBourgeois, 2019). The low amount of sleep or insufficient sleep pattern
definitely affects the daily life of people and determines the functioning of next day of
people. However, the serious challenge for Australian health government is that this issue is
not a major problem for Australian adults because only 33%-45% of Australian adult are
suffering from inadequate sleep, but this issue is a serious issue in children, teenagers, and
young adults. According to a report published by the RACP, more than 70% Australian
teenagers are facing extreme issue with insufficient sleep after every school night while the
35% young children are facing sleeping issues because their parents or they self-use digital
devices to watch videos or using social media (Parliament of Australia, 2019). According to a
survey conducted by American Sleep Foundation, it has been found that children who have
more than three digital devices in their bedroom are facing extreme issues with their sleep.
Children having less number of digital devices are taking more hours of sleep in night
(Green, Dagan, & Haim, 2018). The statistics shows that most of the Australian people,
young children, teenagers, and young adult people are facing issues related to sleep and the
major cause of this issue of mental pressure or depression, excessive use of digital devices,
and addiction of internet or social media (Espie, Emsley, Kyle, SGordon, Drake, Siriwardena