Screen Time And Sleep Analysis

Screen time and sleep analysis
Introduction
With the advent of mobile phone, more and more people are using them for various
tasks, from casual gaming till business needs. Thus people are spending a lot of time on
mobile phones which has an effect on their health. The current study has gathered data of 25
people regarding their time spent on mobile phones and their sleep duration over a period of 7
days. The subsequent sections provide the data and analysis of the trends in screen time and
sleep time.
Screen- time
In this study, daily screen time, time spent on mobile phones, of 25 people was
gathered. The result is given in the following graph.
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Average daily screen time
average daily screen time
No. of days
Number of hours
Figure 1. Average daily screen time of 25 people over 7 days
As can be seen from the graph, the average time daily an adult spends on the mobile ranges
between 3.55hrs to 3.81hrs. That’s a lot of hours. For few individuals, the screen time went as
high as 4.9 hours on average during the 7 day period. The data is reflective of the results of

similar studies12. Most of the time, mobile use is for casual usage like checking out messages
on social media, or listening to music. Some of the users utilize the mobile phones for using
certain apps based on specific requirements like writing notes, reading files, alarms etc. There
have been many studies done which have tried to find the effect of time spent on mobile
phones on the health of people. A direct effect of more screen time is on the sleeping pattern
of the person. The following sections show results of data gathered for the sleep-time of 25
people.
Sleep-time
The trend of sleep-duration of 25 people is shown in the following graph.
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Average Sleep time per night
"No. of hours of sleep"
No. of days
Number of hours
Figure 2. Average sleep-time of 25 people over 7 days
1 J. MacKay. Screen time stats 2019: Here’s how much you use your phone during the
workday (accessed February 17, 2020); accessed from https://blog.rescuetime.com/screen-
time-stats-2018/
2 How Much Time Do People Spend on Their Mobile Phones in 2017 (accessed
February 17, 2020); accessed from https://hackernoon.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-
on-their-mobile-phones-in-2017-e5f90a0b10a6

As its seen from the graph, the average time of sleep ranges between 6.38 hours to 6.48hours.
This is almost similar to the results posted by another study3 where it shows the average time
spent in sleeping per night is 6.8hours. These studies suggest there has been considerable
decrease in the sleep time over the years. The duration of sleep for adults as recommended by
National Sleep Foundation4 is 7-9hours. Thus the duration of sleep of these individuals is
almost an hour less than the recommended duration. This lack of sleep has an unfavourable
affect on the health of individuals.
Analysis of Screen-time and Sleep time
A comparative analysis of the screen-time and sleep time shows that as the average
daily screen-time increases, there is slight decrease in the sleep-time per night of the
individuals. Thus people are spending more time on phones at the expense of sleeping hours.
Several studies have shown, that this lack of sleep causes a decrease in performance level of
individuals. A study5 reports that people sleeping on average between 7-8 hours per night
performed better cognitively than those who slept less, or more, than this amount.
3 54 Shocking Sleep Statistics and Trends for 2020 (accessed February 17, 2020);
accessed from https://www.sleepadvisor.org/sleep-statistics/
4 National Sleep Foundation. National Sleep Foundation Recommends New Sleep
Times (accessed February 17, 2020); accessed from https://www.sleepfoundation.org/press-
release/national-sleep-foundation-recommends-new-sleep-times
5 University of Western Ontario. World's largest sleep study shows too much shut-eye
can be bad for your brain (accessed February 17, 2020); accessed from
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181009135845.htm

0 2 4 6 8 10 12
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
5.5
6
6.5
7
7.5
8
8.5
9
9.5
10
Sleep-time and Screen time comparison
average daily screen time
"average no. of hrs of sleep"
No. of days
Number of hours
Figure 3. Comparison of average daily screen-time and average sleep-time per night
Spending more time on phone, keeps adults from falling asleep by increasing the electrical
activity of the brain and diverting the person from calming down into a quiet state of mind.
According to Australia’s Sleep Health Foundation, getting less than 8 hours of sleep regularly
has a detrimental effect on reaction time, mood, alertness and productivity6. Additionally, the
act of responding to emails or texts increases tension and stress in body resulting in release of
stress hormone aversive to sleep7.
6 Can't sleep? Blame your screen time (accessed February 17, 2020); Accessed from
http://www.dailylife.com.au/health-and-fitness/dl-wellbeing/cant-sleep-blame-your-screen-
time-20140109-30jcc.html
7 L. Hollman, Ph.D. Effects Of Screen Time On Adult Sleep (accessed February 17,
2020); accessed from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/effects-of-screen-time-
on_b_11407544

Conclusion
The study suggests that increase in the screen time of people has effect on number of
hours an individual gets sleep. This decrease in sleep results in low performance of the
individual. Thus it is imperative for people to cut-down on screen time to give recommended
hours to sleep per night.
Bibliography
J. MacKay. Screen time stats 2019: Here’s how much you use your phone during the
workday. Accessed February 17, 2020. Accessed from
https://blog.rescuetime.com/screen-time-stats-2018/
How Much Time Do People Spend on Their Mobile Phones in 2017. Accessed February 17,
2020. Accessed from https://hackernoon.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-
their-mobile-phones-in-2017-e5f90a0b10a6
54 Shocking Sleep Statistics and Trends for 2020. Accessed February 17, 2020. Accessed
from https://www.sleepadvisor.org/sleep-statistics/
National Sleep Foundation. National Sleep Foundation Recommends New Sleep Times.
Accessed February 17, 2020. Accessed from
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/press-release/national-sleep-foundation-
recommends-new-sleep-times
University of Western Ontario. World's largest sleep study shows too much shut-eye can be
bad for your brain. Accessed February 17, 2020. Accessed from
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181009135845.htm
Can't sleep? Blame your screen time. Accessed February 17, 2020. Accessed from
http://www.dailylife.com.au/health-and-fitness/dl-wellbeing/cant-sleep-blame-your-screen-
time-20140109-30jcc.html

L. Hollman, Ph.D. Effects Of Screen Time On Adult Sleep. Accessed February 17, 2020.
Accessed from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/effects-of-screen-time-
on_b_11407544