SMS teens losing precious sleep

School students, particularly female students who are "the most eager to text", are chronically sleep deprived and not concentrating in classs because of late night texting, according to education expert and clinical psychologist Andrew Fuller from Australia, reports The Age. "Mr Fuller, who is conducting school-based research on the sleeping habits of students, found sleep was most elusive for female students because they were typically the most eager SMS users. Mr Fuller, who is soon to release his latest book, Tricky Kids, recommended banning mobile phones from bedrooms." Relates studies: -- Teens face mobile stress (Sweden) -- Students lack sleep (Japanese study) -- Mobile phones and video games 'are depriving children of sleep' (Belgian study) -- SMS causes poor sleep (Belgian study) -- Children text at night instead of sleeping (Australian study) permalink (February 4th, 2006)

Study: Teenagers Lose Sleep over Texting

Yet another study, this time from Belgium, claims that text messages on mobile phones are making an impact on the quality of sleep for almost 50% of the 16 year old people. [via NewsReviews.org]

The Leuven study on media and adolescent health was conducted in Flanders in which about 2500 children studying in 1st and 4th year - aged 13 and 16 years were asked how many times they wake in the night because of incoming SMS messages in their mobile phones. In the 13 year old children, 13.4% reported that they wake up 1-3 times in a month, 5.8% wake up one in a week, 5.3% wake up many times in a week and 2.2% wake up every night. In the group of 16 year old children, 20.8% wake up 1-3 times in a month, 10.8% wake up at least one time in a week, 8.9% wake up many times in a week and 2.9% wake up every night.

Previous studies: -- Sleep Deprived teenagers risk their hearts (USA - 2008) -- Can't Sleep? Turn Off the Cell Phone! (Canada - 2007) -- SMS teens losing precious sleep (Australia - 2006) -- Teens face mobile stress (Sweden - 2006) -- Students lack sleep (Japanese study - 2005) -- Americans are sleep deprived (USA - 2005) -- Mobile phones and video games 'are depriving children of sleep' (Belgian study - 2004) -- SMS causes poor sleep (Belgian study - 2003) -- Children text at night instead of sleeping (Australian study - 2003) permalink (September 5th, 2009)

Americans are sleep deprived

US researchers found that Americans spend nine hours a day watching TV, using the web or talking on a mobile, reports the BBC. "The average American spends more time using media such as TV and the internet than sleeping, a study has found. One-third of that time is devoted to using two or more media at once, noted Bob Papper, a Ball State University professor who co-authored the report. "This is arguably in excess of anything we would have envisaged 10 years ago," Prof Papper said. ... The medium that reaches most people in any given day, 94.6%, was the telephone. Most people, 56.9%, used media in the home but 21.1% did so at work, 8.3% in the car and 13.7% in other locations." permalink (October 7th, 2005)

Sleep Deprived teenagers risk their hearts

We've read about teenagers being sleep deprived because they text all night, but here's something new to worry about. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, new research suggests that sleep-deprived teenagers are at greater risk of high blood pressure and heart attacks - and their mobile phones, computer games and iPods could be to blame. "A study of teens aged 13 to 16 found those who slept less than 6½ hours a night were up to three times more likely to have elevated blood pressure. Researchers said the "technological invasion of the bedroom" was responsible for creating a generation of sleep-starved youngsters. The study, by Susan Redline from University Hospital's Sleep Disorders Clinic in Cleveland, published in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association, looked at the sleeping patterns of 238 teenagers and found that the duration of sleep directly affected blood pressure. ... It is the first study of its kind to look at the link between sleep and blood pressure in healthy teens." Links to other SMS related sleep deprived studies. permalink (August 19th, 2008)

Can't Sleep? Turn Off the Cellphone!

A good night's sleep is becoming ever more elusive for the average American — and it's a problem that plagues us at all ages, from infancy to adulthood. Time magazine reports. Now three new papers in the Sept. 1 issue of the journal Sleep tackle the question of sleeplessness: two studies illuminate the reasons why teens and adults don't sleep enough. With teens, a major culprit is cellphone use; with adults, it's work. Meanwhile, a third study of young children reveals that sleep deprivation in early life may lead to future behavioral and cognitive problems. Links to other technology-causes-sleep deprivation related studies. permalink (September 2nd, 2007)

Stealth Attack Drains Cell Phone Batteries

Following McAfee's SMSishing warning/scare earlier this week of hackers sending out SMS messages to mobile users - coaxing them into downloading unsuspecting software containing Trojan horse viruses - today, Science Daily reports on "stealth attacks" that drain cell phone batteries. [via digg] "Cell phones that can send or receive multimedia files could be targeted by an attack that stealthily drains their batteries, leaving cellular communications networks useless, according to computer security researchers at UC Davis, in a lab test. Chen, and graduate students Denys Ma and Radmilo Racic, found that the MMS protocol, which allows cell phones to send and receive pictures, video and audio files, can be used to send packets of junk data to a cell phone. Every time the phone receives one of these packets, it "wakes up" from standby mode, but quickly discards the junk packet without ringing or alerting the user. Deprived of sleep by repeated pulses of junk data, the phone's batteries run down up to 20 times faster than in regular use." permalink (August 30th, 2006)

SMS causes poor sleep

This has not been a good week for cell phones.. Following a Swedish study saying mobile phones will cause teenagers to have an an early senility, now a Belgian study says text messaging is affecting the quality of sleep of almost half of 16 year olds, reports The Register.

Actually, this is the second time the "staying awake all night on your cell phone" issue has come up recently. Just last week Melbourne experts warned that sleep-deprived teens were struggling to get up and go to school after sending text messages all night. cf Children text at night instead of sleeping .

permalink (September 15th, 2003)

Children text at night instead of sleeping

Melbourne experts warn sleep-deprived teens are struggling to get up and go to school after sending text messages all night, reports The Herald Sun. Teens take advantage of overnight free calls offered by some phone networks to catch up with their friends.

permalink (September 8th, 2003)