When the Screen Goes Dark: Sleep, Screens, and the Adolescent Brain

Sleep is not the brain going offline. It is the brain doing different work.

When digital media disrupts sleep, it does not only affect the night. It follows young people into the morning, into the classroom, into their relationships, into their mood, and into their capacity to cope.

That is why sleep deserves more attention in our conversations about problematic digital media use. Sometimes the most important effect of a device is not what it does while a young person is using it.

It is what it prevents the brain from doing after the screen goes dark.