Kids’ new insomnia habit: waking up to text

“Story Time” is a texting game in which participants feed one another followup lines to an emerging story. “Quotes” is another time-killer that has caught on: one player texts an iconic quote from a book or movie and the other player tries to ID it. Sounds harmless enough, right? But when kids do it at 3 a.m. or sign on to Facebook and other social media sites at that hour, they’re risking more than lost sleep.

According to a study in the Journal of Youth Studies, 20 per cent of kids ages 12 to 15 regularly wake up during the night to send or check messages. As a consequence, they’re exhausted at school, and that translates to poorer grades, troubled relationships and greater susceptibility to illnesses.

Children 12 to 15 need nine to 11 hours of sleep a night, but the researchers say that almost 18 per cent of 12- to 13-yearolds and 28 per cent of 14- to 15-year-olds reported they go to bed around or after midnight. They’re hitting the hay way too late for sufficient sleep, and many are waking up later in the night to get online.

What’s the solution? All cellphones on the kitchen table. Parents, share the pain. No other communication devices in the bedroom. Lights off at 9 p.m., and that means computers, tablets and gaming stations are offline at bedtime. It’s important for their health (yours, too), grades and future. They may complain, but they’ll appreciate it in the short and long run.