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In a post I wrote last April, I argued that use of cellphones by children and adolescents in the evening is a primary cause of sleep insufficiency. In 2023, the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) convened an international panel of experts to assess the research evidence for effects of screen use across the lifespan from childhood into adulthood. The panel offered recommendations based on their findings in an article published in the August 2024 issue of the official journal of NSF, Sleep Health (Hartstein et al., 2024).
Quoting from the abstract, “The Panel achieved consensus that (1) in general, screen use impairs sleep health among children and adolescents, (2) the content of screen use before sleep impairs sleep health of children and adolescents, and (3) behavioral strategies and interventions may attenuate the negative effects of screen use on sleep health.” Interventions to reduce screen time and the negative effects on sleep rely on parents establishing and monitoring screen use and children complying with the restrictions. While some parents are willing and able to do so, many are not. Adolescents, who seek greater autonomy over their own behavior, are unsurprisingly resistant to such restrictions.
In school settings, teachers and administrators exercise considerable control over student behavior, and policies regarding cellphone use at school have increasingly been implemented. The Rand Corporation published results of surveys regarding cellphone use in schools in an article published Oct. 7, 2025. In a survey of school principals, it was reported that nearly all K-12 schools allowed students to bring cellphones to school, but two-thirds had policies that prohibited use during the school day, especially during class time. About 86% of principals whose schools restricted usage said that they had seen improvements in school climate, fewer instances of inappropriate cellphone use, and less cyberbullying. Many reported, however, that parents were often concerned that cellphone rules would not allow them to reach their children during school hours. Similarly, many high-school students complained about not being able to reach their parents. No doubt the anxieties about violence at school are driving the wishes of students and their parents about being able to call when needed.
In a separate Rand survey of youth, around 60% of students were willing to comply with restrictions on phone use during classes and said that the primary reason was the reduction in distractions, However, 90% were opposed to restrictions from “bell to bell”—from the beginning of school to dismissal. Schools are finally acknowledging that phone use at school is distracting and disruptive and it seems almost all schools have, or will soon have, policies. Getting reasonable restrictions on evening and nighttime use out of school will not be so easily accomplished, but I’m optimistic that educational efforts to inform the public about the relation of too much screen time in the evening and sleep problems will be helpful.
