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Abstract

This paper aimed to research the effect of screen time on sleep quality based on the opinions of 356 third-level students from various Irish Universities. This study considers factors such as sleep duration, the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic concerning online college and its effect on sleep quality and screen time duration. This study was conducted using an anonymous Google Forms survey consisting of 10 questions and gained ethical approval before distribution.

Most participants (56.1%) slept between 7-9 hours, which is within the recommended guidelines of sleep duration by the Health Service Executive (HSE, 2022). When asked about the effect of online college because of the COVID-19 pandemic, an immense increase in screen time for students was noted with 92.1% of participants stating that screen time had increased for online college. Most participants either agreed (37.6%) or strongly agreed (57.9%) with physical, emotional, and mental health being affected by sleep quality.

It was determined that there was no statistical correlation associated with increased screen use contributing to decreased self-assessed sleep quality amongst the targeted population. In conclusion, it was evident that due to limitations such as the self-assessment of participants and the inability to fully investigate sleep quality through an online survey that a comprehensive correlation between sleep quality being affected by screen time could not be made.

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