The use of technology can have a negative impact on sleep by destroying sleep schedules, creating risks of exposure to sleep disorders, and yet, many do not realize that technology is destroying their quality of sleep. For example, one of the articles I will be using talks about this relationship between sleep and technology and states that the use of “light  emitting electronic devices” late at night can biologically affect melatonin levels, and destroy one’s circadian clock due to prolonging sleep (Chang, 2015). This topic is important to society because phones, television, video games and ipad are a part of many, if not everyone’s, daily use. Adults, adolescents, and children frequently go to bed late binge watching a show, scrolling through social media, texting  or playing a video game. Additionally, many are suffering from sleep disorders, though some may not realize it, and it is affecting their mood and the way they function daily. As I’ve learned before, poor sleep hygiene, which includes a poor bedtime schedule, can actually turn sleep problems into sleep disorders such as insomnia or hypersomnia. Essentially, these sleep disorders can cause daytime sleepiness, thus leading to poor concentration, function, and performances in many settings such as school, and work, and it can affect the emotional and mental health of a person negatively such as leading to depression. So, if sleep problems, and disorders can affect a person’s quality of  life, then finding out causes of poor sleep habits is important. Since technology has a relationship with a person’s sleep, it is important to bring awareness of using it, especially late at night, so that people could perform better at school and at work. For this research topic, it will be important to research statistics gathered from surveys on how many people use technology at night, and what they would describe their sleep as. It would further be important to know more about the biological effect that technology has on sleep, why the two can be associated, and the definition of scientific terms in relation to this topic.

References

Chang, A.-M., Aeschbach, D., Duffy, J. F., & Czeisler, C. A. (2015). Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affect sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112(4), 1232–1237. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26454261