Pediatrics smartphone in bedroom is not so smart choice.Electronic devices may have a more negative effect on a child's sleep than television.

1. Pediatrics: Smartphone in
Bedroom Is Not So Smart
Choice
Electronic devices may have a more negative
effect on a child's sleep than television.
by Molly Walker
Contributing Writer, MedPage Today
The impact of excessive television exposure on
children has been well documented, but "small
screen" devices (such as smartphones or tablets)
may be even more harmful to a child's sleep
patterns. A new study in Pediatrics suggests that
children who slept near a small screen in their
room reported fewer minutes of sleep and later
bedtimes than children who slept with a TV in their
room (P>0.01).
In fact, the presence of a small screen appeared to
impact a child's sleep patterns more than a
television. The study reported that children with
small screens in their bedrooms also reported 20.6
fewer minutes of sleep per weekday (95% CI
minus 29.7-minus 11.4) than those who never
slept near a small screen, independent of having a
TV in their room, while children with TVs in their
bedrooms reported 18.0 fewer minutes of weekday
sleep (95% CI minus 27.9-minus 8.1),
independent of small screens.
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2. Both small screens and television caused similar
delays in sleep. Children sleeping near a small
screen and sleeping with a TV in the room were
associated with a 37.0 minute (95% CI 20.1 to
53.9) and 31.1 minute (95% CI 19.1 to 43.1) later
bedtimes, respectively, the authors wrote.
Lead author, Jennifer Falbe, ScD, MPH, of the
school of public health at the University of
California in Berkeley, said the interactive nature
of small screens is concerning. "These devices
expose users to melatonin-delaying light, and they
provide access to a variety of content like videos,
games, and e-mails that could delay sleep," she
said.
Researchers surveyed 2,048 fourth and seventh
grade students in two Massachusetts communities
across 29 schools as part of the Massachusetts
Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration Study
(MA-CORD). The mean age for the study was 10.6
(SD +/- 1.5 years), with Hispanic (40%) and non-
Hispanic white (38%) comprising the vast majority
of the ethnic sample.
Exposure to screens was determined by asking
"Some kids use devices to play games or send text
messages or chats to their friends like cell phones,
smart phones, and the iPod Touch. How often do
you sleep with one of these devices near where
you sleep or next to your bed?" with a response
range from 0 to 7 days. Sleep duration was
determined by asking "On a usual weekday this
past week, when did you go to bed at night?" and

3. "On a usual weekday this past week, when did you
wake up the next morning?" and subtracting wake
time from bedtime hours.
Given the association between sleep and emotional
issues such as anxiety, depression, or even mental
illness in children, this study has important
implications for clinicians. Jay Reeve, PhD,
president and CEO of the Apalachee Center in
Tallahassee, Fla., and assistant professor,
department of psychology at Florida State
University said that questions about small screen
device use may be a good addition to a set of
questions pediatricians ask their patients.
"When the kid gets brought in for a visit, I don't
think it would necessarily be a bad thing to say
'Does Junior have a cell phone or an iPhone or a
Droid? Does he sleep with the cell phone or the
iPhone or the Droid in his room? Does he sleep
with it in his bed?' and to let that lead them into a
standard series of questions about sleep and sleep
disturbance," Reeve said.
However, as Falbe points out, there is no way to
tell "which came first, poor sleep or the presence
of screen media in the sleep environment." She
cites the study's cross-sectional design as its
primary limitation, and said there may be other
factors contributing to poor sleep patterns in
children, such as parenting style.
Reeve calls this "a valuable preliminary study" and
said that a longitudinal study containing an

4. observational component with a control set in it
would be the next step for researchers in this field.
But he said that results of this current study could
still have useful applications for a variety of health
professionals.
"These are the kinds of studies that if they're
followed up on and made available to general
practitioners and to behavioral health clinicians are
actually going to have a lot of impact on the way
that people practice, and I think it could lead to
some really positive results," Reeve concluded.
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