Using tablets and smartphones at night, and sleep...

[dave4shmups]

I've had an iPad for over 3 years, and I keep hearing news reports about blue light that comes from these devices interfering with sleep. Apparently this blue light interrupts your body's production of melatonin. And TVs give it off as well.

So I'm just curious as to what people on this forum do. I've heard that avoiding smartphones and tablets about an hour before you go to bed is a good idea.

[Bananamatic]

it's the same stuff that turns the frogs gay

[DejahThoris]

I've had an iPad for over 3 years, and I keep hearing news reports about blue light that comes from these devices interfering with sleep. Apparently this blue light interrupts your body's production of melatonin. And TVs give it off as well.

So I'm just curious as to what people on this forum do. I've heard that avoiding smartphones and tablets about an hour before you go to bed is a good idea.

My iPad at least has a blue light filter. I set it to turn on after dark, and it turns back off in the mornings. My Samsung phone has it too, built right into the OS.

How-to for your iPad
https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT207570

[Stevens]

I use f.lux.

[Aisha]

For the PC, you can use f.lux or Redshift to gradually reduce blue light emitting from your screen in the evening and night, and Twilight for those Android versions that don't have the feature built-in.

I don't know how much these programs actually help in improving my sleep, but I find that they make looking at screens a lot more comfortable in low-light environments, so I use them for this purpose alone.

[ryu]

I've been wondering this since forever and never came across any concrete information about what it's about.

My assumption is that a lot of devices are stuck with a cold color temp and are often used at high brightnesses. Reducing the screen's brightness at night should be enough to do the trick.

[Blinge]

wish f.lux worked on my PC tbh. However it just screws the contrast up (muh windows 7 settings) and I couldn't get them back with flux still installed.

As for sleep.. half of my sleeps begin with me lying down watching something on a phone, immediately sleeping for 10 or so minutes before waking up to turn it off then sleeping again. Feel free to hate me.

[TransatlanticFoe]

High brightness, dark room is your main enemy. That's when the light from your screen will confuse your body into thinking it's day and you should stay awake.

The TV won't likely be a problem if you have the lights on but a smaller screen is usually brighter so consider turning the brightness down even in a well lit room. Or y'know, put the thing down for 90 mins before going to bed.

[Skykid]

Yeah, try to give your brain a rest before sleep. I've had very disturbed sleep patterns because of phone - and especially laptop - use, right before bed. Sometimes it just keeps me up all night.

[MintyTheCat]

You kind of want to have "on time" and "off time". We are not really evolved to be awake for long once it goes dark. Back before we all had artificial lighting most people would have followed the rising and setting of the sun. Cities such as London are really bad for us in trying to maintain the balance as it never really goes dark at night in larger cities - you have the red darkness.

Definitely set yourself a time to stop using electronic devices. You are still better off with a paperback to read as it does not have any of the glare and you will not be tempted to 'just check your messages...'.

You may also notice a change in stress levels too the less you use tablets and phones and especially before you sleep. Essentially: less time tapped into the Internet and the use of these devices and more time out and about.

[Xyga]

At night never take your mobile device to bed for reading/games/movies/work. Use it exclusively to browse porn, fap, and fall asleep.

[Super Laydock]

Just leave that stuff out of your bedroom. Leave it in the kitchen or whatever, and turn it off.
You don't have to be connected 24/7... It's a choice.

Go to sleep and next morning every message will still be there... accept you can't be "on" all of the day.
If people demand this from you... just say NO.
And people should respect that.

At work I am the only one not in the "group app", and after some explaining they respected my choice.

[dave4shmups]

wish f.lux worked on my PC tbh. However it just screws the contrast up (muh windows 7 settings) and I couldn't get them back with flux still installed.

As for sleep.. half of my sleeps begin with me lying down watching something on a phone, immediately sleeping for 10 or so minutes before waking up to turn it off then sleeping again. Feel free to hate me.

I don't. I think it also has to do with a person's mental state. For example, and everyone probably knows someone like this, my Dad and older brother could sleep through World War III. I have a friend on Facebook who's probably like that as well, because she said that she falls asleep with her phone in her hand.