New research has revealed a sharp link between using screens in bed and disrupted sleep, while a separate study suggests that switching off mobile internet on smartphones may significantly boost focus and mental health, delivering cognitive benefits equivalent to turning back the clock by a decade!
Bed, Phone, No Sleep Concludes Norwegian Study
Using your phone in bed might feel harmless, even relaxing, but according to a major Norwegian study, it may be stealing your sleep and leaving you more tired than you realise. Conducted by researchers at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, the study analysed survey responses from over 45,000 university students aged 18 to 28 as part of the nationally representative SHOT2022 health and wellbeing survey.
The researchers set out to explore how different types of screen activity, e.g. scrolling social media, watching videos, or browsing online, affect sleep when used in bed after lights-out.
The Findings
The researchers found that each extra hour spent on screen-based activities in bed was associated with:
– A 59 per cent increase in the odds of reporting insomnia symptoms.
– A 24-minute reduction in total sleep time.
The study also concluded that those who avoided screens in bed altogether were 24 per cent less likely to report symptoms of insomnia.
Dr Gunnhild Johnsen Hjetland, lead author of the study, noted: “We found no significant differences between social media and other screen activities, suggesting that screen use itself is the key factor in sleep disruption.”
New Insights
Interestingly, it wasn’t just the time spent, but also what people were doing with their devices that revealed new insights. For example, although the majority (69 per cent) used social media along with other screen activities, the subgroup who only used social media had the best sleep outcomes, reporting the least insomnia and the longest sleep duration of any group.
This finding appears to fly in the face of the idea that social media is uniquely disruptive. It seems, therefore, that it may instead reflect a social connection benefit, or simply the fact that those with existing sleep problems may avoid social media at bedtime and lean towards more passive activities like videos or music.
How Screens May Disrupt Sleep
The Norwegian researchers explored several possible explanations for the link between screen time and sleep loss, including:
– Displacement – screens push back bedtimes, stealing time directly from sleep.
– Light exposure – screen light may suppress melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep.
– Cognitive arousal – engaging with interactive content keeps the brain alert.
– Notifications – late-night alerts can disrupt sleep continuity.
The results strongly pointed to displacement as the dominant factor. In other words, more screen time simply meant less time allocated to sleep, regardless of content. As the researchers explained: “If increased arousal was an important contributor, we would expect to see different effects based on activity type. We didn’t”.
The team also acknowledged the limits of the study. For example, the data was self-reported, meaning it may carry subjective biases, and the study was cross-sectional, so causality can’t be firmly established. As Dr Hjetland said: “This study cannot determine causality — for example, whether screen use causes insomnia or if students with insomnia use screens more.”
Switching Off to Switch Back On – The Internet Block Study
While the Norwegian study focused on what happens when people use their phones at night, another recent experiment investigated what happens when mobile internet access is taken away altogether.
Researchers at the University of British Columbia ran a month-long randomised controlled trial involving 467 adults across Canada and the US. The study involved installing the Freedom app on participants’ smartphones to block all mobile internet for two weeks—while still allowing calls and texts. Desktop internet access remained unaffected.
The Freedom app is a digital wellbeing tool that lets users block access to distracting websites, apps, or the entire internet across their devices. In this study, it was used to completely block mobile internet on smartphones for two weeks, while still allowing calls and texts, helping participants disconnect from constant online access without cutting them off from essential communication. The results were surprisingly powerful. For example, participants who blocked mobile internet for two weeks saw significant improvements in:
– Sustained attention – a measurable improvement equivalent to reversing 10 years of cognitive decline!
– Mental health – reductions in symptoms of depression and anxiety, outperforming the average effects of antidepressants.
– Subjective well-being – increased life satisfaction and mood.
Key Findings
Two key findings of the research were that 91 per cent of participants improved on at least one of the psychological measures, and nearly three-quarters improved in overall well-being or mental health. As the researchers concluded: “Despite the many benefits mobile internet offers, reducing the constant connection to the digital world can have large positive effects”.
The Benefits of Disconnection
The study essentially dug into possible explanations and found that people who lost mobile internet:
– Spent significantly more time socialising in person, exercising, or spending time outdoors.
– Slept slightly more each night.
– Felt more in control of their attention and behaviour.
These lifestyle shifts helped explain the benefits to mood and focus. Notably, screen time almost halved during the intervention, from over five hours a day to just over two in the most successful group. “Our results suggest that constant connection to the online world comes at a cost, since psychological functioning improves when this connection is reduced,” said the study team.
What It All Means – And Why It Matters Now
Together, these two studies appear to tell a compelling story about how our devices may shape daily life, and nightly rest. While it’s long been suspected that smartphones disrupt attention and sleep, these findings go further by highlighting not just correlations, but in the case of the second study, causal evidence of real cognitive and emotional improvements when mobile internet is switched off.
The implications are wide-ranging. For example:
– For individuals, simple changes, such as avoiding screens in bed or trialling internet blockers, could deliver big mental health and sleep benefits.
– For parents, the results support efforts like the “Smartphone-Free Childhood” movement, which urges families to delay phone access for children until age 14.
– For employers, it seems that encouraging healthy boundaries around screen time could improve employee focus and reduce digital burnout.
– For app and tech developers, the research may make a case for designing “focus modes” that do more than dim the screen, thereby offering real disconnection.
These results also dovetail with previous research. A growing body of studies has linked excessive smartphone use to poorer sleep, anxiety, attention lapses, and reduced productivity. What’s new here is the scale of the benefit from even temporary restrictions.
A Word of Caution
However, it’s worth noting the limitations. For example, both studies relied on participants motivated to reduce phone use or who were already concerned about their sleep. The Canadian study also struggled with compliance where only about a quarter of participants fully followed the internet block, although benefits were still seen across the board.
The Norwegian survey’s self-reported data also can’t definitively prove that screen time causes insomnia, and other variables, like personality, stress levels, or pre-existing health conditions, may well play a role.
However, with thousands of participants and consistent patterns across both studies, the message is becoming harder to ignore i.e., how we use our phones, especially before bed, could be shaping not just how we sleep, but how we think, feel and focus during the day.
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
Taken together, these studies may make a strong case for reassessing how people use smartphones, especially in the hours before bed. While neither piece of research is without its limitations, the evidence appears to point to a growing truth that’s hard to ignore, i.e. that constant digital connectivity may be undermining both our rest and our resilience. For individuals, the takeaway is relatively straightforward. Steering clear of screens in bed, experimenting with internet blockers like Freedom, or simply becoming more mindful of screen habits could offer measurable improvements in sleep quality, attention span, and overall mental health. These aren’t vague lifestyle tweaks but are evidence-based strategies that can deliver real, tangible benefits.
For UK businesses, the implications are also increasingly difficult to sideline. With workplace wellbeing now firmly on the agenda, there’s a compelling argument for employers to support staff in setting digital boundaries, particularly in remote or hybrid working environments. Offering advice, policies or even tech tools that encourage disconnection out of hours could help reduce burnout and improve focus, thereby boosting productivity without adding to the always-on culture. There’s also a growing market opportunity for app developers and digital service providers to create smarter, more adaptive tools that genuinely support wellbeing rather than distract from it.
At the broader societal level, the findings lend weight to calls for a more cautious approach to digital technology, especially where children and young people are concerned. Campaigns like Smartphone-Free Childhood are gaining traction for a reason. The data now suggests that limiting online access, at least some of the time, could have far-reaching psychological and developmental benefits.
These studies reinforce what many of us already know i.e., our devices are powerful, but so is the choice to step away. As more evidence emerges, the challenge for individuals, businesses and policymakers alike will be how to strike the right balance, harnessing the benefits of digital life without letting it quietly erode our most fundamental human needs.
