Daily Screen Exposure and Sleep Quality Among University Students: Night-Time Smartphone Use as a Mediating Pathway
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66687/n4nxqr31Keywords:
sleep hygiene, smart phone, night-time smartphone use, social media, university studentsAbstract
Screen-based technologies are embedded in contemporary university life for academic work, communication, entertainment and social interaction. Although greater screen exposure has repeatedly been associated with adverse sleep outcomes, the timing of exposure may be as important as total duration. Night-time smartphone use may represent a particularly important behavioural pathway linking overall daily screen exposure with impaired sleep. To synthesize high-quality pre-2021 evidence concerning the relationship between screen exposure, night-time smartphone behaviour and sleep among university students and young adults, and to evaluate night-time smartphone use as a plausible mediating pathway. A structured evidence synthesis was conducted using peer-reviewed literature published no later than 31 December 2020. Evidence was restricted to studies published in first-quartile journals within relevant sleep medicine, psychiatry, behavioural science, public health, psychology and multidisciplinary categories. University-student and young-adult studies were prioritized, supplemented by mechanistic and adolescent evidence where necessary. Outcomes included sleep quality, sleep duration, sleep-onset latency, sleep efficiency and sleep disturbance. Across the evidence base, greater smartphone and social-media exposure was consistently associated with poorer sleep outcomes. Importantly, night-time exposure appeared more proximal to sleep impairment than general daytime exposure. Objective student data demonstrated associations between nocturnal smartphone checking and poorer sleep quality. Studies of young adults also identified relationships between bedtime social-media use and disturbed sleep. Mechanistic evidence supported four principal pathways: displacement of sleep time, cognitive and emotional arousal, circadian effects of short-wavelength light exposure and sleep interruption through notifications. A university-based mediation study further demonstrated that bedtime procrastination and reduced self-regulation transmitted part of the relationship between problematic smartphone use and impaired sleep. Night-time smartphone use is a plausible behavioural pathway through which high daily screen exposure contributes to poor sleep among university students. Interventions should therefore focus not solely on reducing overall screen time, but on modifying the timing, context and behavioural characteristics of smartphone use around bedtime.
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