How and Why People Use Mobile Phones Near Bedtime and in Bed

Israelis' Narratives of Digitally Enabled Sleepful Sociality

Bibliographic Data

ID2323451
AuthorsDana Zarhin (0000-0001-5299-4711, University of Haifa, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume58
Issue1
Pages83-99
Publication date2024-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0385 • E-ISSN: 1469-8684
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00380385231157560
OpenAlexW4361002498
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited67

Although prior studies have examined the impact of smartphone use on sleep and there is a growing interest in the interface between mobile phones and society, researchers know little about how and why people use mobile phones before bedtime and in bed. The current research explores this question by drawing on data from sleep diaries and in-depth interviews with 66 Israelis. The results show that the human-mobile phone sleep assemblage generates agentic capacities that allow individuals to engage in a digitally enabled form of what I call sleepful sociality - a sociality marked by sleep. Through the use of mobile phones, individuals create, maintain and/or detach from social relations and fulfil social obligations near bedtime and during sleep, while also trying to facilitate and protect their own and their bed partner's sleep. These findings enhance the understanding of how technology is enmeshed with sociality and creates new ways of being social

Bedtime · Internet privacy · Mobile device · Mobile phone · Narrative · Sleep (system call) · Sociality · Sociology · Telecommunications · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Ecology · Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Innovative Human-Technology Interaction · Psychology · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access