Four Foundational Harms: Sleep Deprivation
“‘Teens need more sleep than adults— at least nine hours a night for teens and eight hours a night for teens.’ Back in 2001, a leading sleep expert wrote that ‘almost all teenagers, as they reach puberty, become walking zombies because they are getting far too little sleep.’ When he wrote that, sleep deprivation had been rising for a decade. Sleep deprivation then leveled off through the early 2010s. After 2013, it resumed its upward march. Is that just a coincidence, or is there evidence directly linking the upsurge in sleep problems to the arrival of the phone-based childhood?
There’s a lot of evidence. A review of 36 correlational studies found significant associations between high social media use and poor sleep, and also between high social media use and poor mental health outcomes. That same review also found that high social media use at one time predicted sleep problems and worse mental health at later times. One experiment found that adolescents who restricted their use of screen devices after 9 p.m. on school nights for two weeks showed increased total sleep time, earlier sleep onset times, and improved performance on a task that required focused attention and quick reactions. Other experiments, using a variety of different screen-based technologies (including e-readers, video games, and computers), have also found that late-night use is disruptive to sleep. Thus, the relationships are not merely correlations; they are causal.”
― Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation
PROVERBS 1:7
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
THE PRAYER OF GENERAL CONFESSION
Almighty and most merciful Father; we have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done’ and there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare thou them, O God which confess their faults. Restore thou them that are penitent; according thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake; that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.
Providence School of Tifton 