Goodnight, IPhone!

In the great green room. There was a telephone (an Iphone). And a red balloon. And a picture of-. The cow jumping over the moon. And there were three little bears sitting on chairs. And two little kittens. And a pair of mittens. And two adults laying in bed scrolling through Twitter.

I hope you recognized the botched words from my favorite childhood bedtime story, Goodnight, Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. The point is this, there is no place for technology in any bedtime story. My #1 piece of advice for adults is this- give your devices a bedtime. Just three weeks ago, the word ‘school night’ found its way back into our daily conversation. I vowed to get to bed earlier in order to sleep better and be healthier. I wanted to wake-up each morning energized before heading to school.

There is no bigger buzzkill in a relationship than the faint glow of an Iphone. I love to see a picture of a gorilla cuddling a kitten just as much as the next person. But Ben’s Twitter-feed isn’t usually the last thing I want to see before falling asleep at night.

I know my opinion is very convincing, but there is actual science behind the negatives of keeping your cell-phone in bed with you. The blue-light is similar to daylight and can cause your body to get confused. Your sleep-awake cycle isn’t something you want to mess with. The jig isn’t up about cancer-risk and cellphone use.

Experts suggest powering off phone two-hours before bed. In an ideal world, that is what I would do. In reality, I try to turn my phone off forty-five minutes to an hour before I intend on falling asleep. I’ve recently started charing my phone on the other side of our bedroom. Outa sight, outta mind.

Being able to say, “Goodnight, Iphone!” earlier each night is something that has helped me sleep better at night and spend a few extra minutes of quality time with Ben.

 

Some of my favorite PJs…