UAE: Teen admits to spending up to 18 hours a day on his phone

Last week, teenager R.N. spent 17 hours 36 minutes on his phone in one day and 14 hours on another. “I was just speaking to my friends on Botim and scrolling through social media,” said the 15-year-old, speaking to Khaleej Times on condition of anonymity. “I didn’t realise that I had racked up that many hours on my screen.”

This reflects a growing incidence of youngsters spending too much time on their screen, severely affecting their sleep cycle. “There's growing concern that many children and young people aren't getting enough sleep,” said Dr. Mona Alharbi, specialist pediatrician at Aster Hospital Al Qusais. “Various studies suggest that a significant portion of this demographic is not meeting recommended sleep durations. Exposure to screens, such as smartphones, tablets, computers, and TVs, before sleep can interfere with the body's natural sleep/wake cycle due to the blue light emitted by these devices.”

Various studies have shown the detrimental effects screens have had on sleep, with many saying it was leading to chronic sleep deprivation among youngsters. Dr Lene Janse Van Rensburg, Head of Wellbeing at Brighton College Dubai said that she has seen the trend of poor sleep particularly among teenagers. “Our older pupils between the ages of 13 and 18 struggle with sleep,” she said. “One of the issues is that children are not being sufficiently educated about good sleep.”

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Other factors

There are some other factors that play a part in contributing to poor sleep time routine, according to John Bell, Founding Principal at Bloom World Academy (BWA). “With people from so many different countries, there are cultural differences on when bedtime is,” he said. “Another issue that makes it difficult to enforce early bedtime is the leisure and social industries in Dubai. There are lots of after school activities. Certain families eat out and the nights are quite late.”

According to Dr. Mona, academic pressure and environmental factors can also play a role in poor sleep. “Busy schedules filled with schoolwork, extracurricular activities, and social commitments can lead to stress and anxiety, which may affect sleep quality and duration,” she said.

Dr. Lene said she had seen the impact of this among students she worked with. “When exams are around the corner, students get anxious,” she said. “This impacts sleep making them even more anxious. So, it is a catch 22 situation.”

Impacts

John said that the impact of poor sleep on children was very significant. “You can tell a tired child very easily,” he said. “They are grumpy and the impact of it is enormous. It is really hard to teach a tired child.”

Dr. Lene said that it was important to understand that it was important to understand that sleep needs differed from student to student. “Individual children have different sleep needs

and they go through different development stages,” she said. “So it is important to watch out for indicators. If they have difficulty getting up in the morning, are sleeping excessively during the daytime and have poor academic performance, irritability or lack of focus, it is an indicator that they are not getting enough sleep.”

• Most teens report feeling happy or peaceful when they go without smartphones