Phones and sleep: why where the phone sleeps matters most

How much sleep kids need

Canada's 24-Hour Movement Guidelines recommend 9 to 11 hours of uninterrupted sleep a night for children aged 5 to 13, and 8 to 10 hours for teens aged 14 to 17. They also call for consistent bed and wake-up times, including on school nights.

Sleep deserves the attention. In a large 2019 University of Oxford analysis of UK and US data, technology use explained at most 0.4% of the variation in teen wellbeing. Getting enough sleep and eating breakfast had a much stronger link to how teens were doing. So if you only change one thing about screens at home, protecting sleep is a good bet.

What newer research says: in bed versus before bed

Many families follow the "no screens an hour before bed" rule. Newer evidence suggests the bigger issue is screens in bed.

In a 2024 University of Otago study published in JAMA Pediatrics, 85 kids aged 11 to 14 wore small body cameras that recorded their screen use in the evening. Screen use in the two hours before bed had little impact on that night's sleep. Screen use once they were in bed cut their sleep by about half an hour. Interactive use, like gaming or using several devices at once, had the strongest effect: every extra ten minutes cost almost nine minutes of sleep.

That study was small, done in New Zealand, and showed a link rather than proof of cause. A 2022 review published by the Public Health Agency of Canada points the same way. It found evening screen use and having screens in the bedroom were linked to shorter, poorer sleep. The authors rated the evidence as low quality, but still suggested cutting back on evening screens and removing screens from bedrooms.

The practical takeaway: a show in the living room after supper is not the problem. A phone in bed is.

The night-time buzz: notifications

Phones don't just keep kids up. They wake them up. In a 2023 Common Sense Media study that tracked teens' phones for a week, half of the teens got 237 or more notifications on a typical day. About a quarter arrived during school hours, and some came overnight. More than half of the teens used their phones on school nights, often to listen to music to wind down or fall asleep.

That last point is worth hearing. For many teens, the phone is part of how they relax, not only a distraction. The goal is to keep the calming part and lose the buzzing part.

Most phones have a sleep or "do not disturb" mode that can switch on by itself at a set time. Menus can move between versions, so check your device's own help pages, or our iPhone and Google Family Link guides.

Set up a charging spot outside bedrooms

Québec's special commission on screens and young people asked parents to set an example with their own screen use, avoid screens before bedtime and keep screens out of bedrooms. A few ways to make the bedroom part stick:

• Pick one spot. The kitchen counter or an entryway shelf works well. Put a power bar there with enough cables for everyone.
• Pick one time. Tie it to the routine, such as "after brushing teeth," or a set hour on school nights.
• Include every device. Phones, tablets, handheld consoles and laptops that come to bed.
• Keep it boring. No lectures, no searching phones at drop-off. It's just where phones sleep.

Expect a few weeks of grumbling. Most families find it becomes normal faster than they feared.

"But I need it for...": common objections

• "It's my alarm." An inexpensive alarm clock fixes this, and it's a classic gift.
• "I listen to music to fall asleep." Use a small speaker, or a device that plays music but can't message, with a sleep timer.
• "My friends will text me." Agree on a phrase they can send friends, like "phone's in the kitchen, talk tomorrow." Many teens are relieved to have the excuse.
• "I need it for homework." Then homework on screens finishes before the phone curfew.
• "What if there's an emergency?" A home phone, or a parent's phone in the hallway, covers real emergencies.

Parents go first

Kids notice what we do far more than what we say. If your phone charges on your nightstand, theirs will want to as well. Put yours in the same spot, at the same time, and say out loud why: "I sleep better when it's not next to me."

You don't need to be perfect. A family that keeps phones out of bedrooms most nights is doing well, and the payoff is real: more sleep, and kids who often feel better for it.