Last night, at almost 11, I was ready to tell our son he was busted for: after bedtime TV watching. His door was shut. The lights were still on and yes, he was so busted! I opened the door expecting to startle him but he was so into that little device screen. He didn't even turn around or budge. It doesn't take long to get to fuming. The room is a mess. I'm on a diet. And, by three steps closer to him, I thought the nerve of this guy. "I can't believe you are still up. It's time to go to bed. I know it's Friday night but you have big day tomorrow..." Only at the moment that I get to his bed that I realize, his eyes aren't even open. He's sound asleep. So, I removed the screen but the ergonomics of the hand had to be fixed. Imagine being stuck in screen-in-hand posture like that all night. So, I took his hand and shook out his fingers and tried to get the hand to relax. He stirred enough to move around and finally tuck his hand under his head.
I turned off the lights, turned on the ceiling fan, and took the phone with me.
On a more serious note, many of us are falling to sleep with and even on top of our screen technology. In extreme position for our bodies, as we position them awkwardly (position itself, length of time frozen in the position). It's sleep disrupting in ways we don't even know yet. So much for falling to sleep on the couch with the TV on. The TV isn't in your hand or underneath you.
We aren't the only family in this dilemma. But, from what I can tell, even though, we are aware that checking our device last at night is not recommended.
No one is is talking about being frozen in those awkward screen-in-hand positions all night. I mean, our son's hand didn't even really relax when the phone was removed. I think it's just light enough that the body wasn't impacted by the loss of weight when I removed it. All the muscle force stayed in the hands posture.
That's something to think about.
