Screenagers.

I saw my nephew reading HOMER PRICE and had a flashback of my ten-year-old self crawling under the covers with a flashlight to read that hilarious book!  Did you ever read a book when you were supposed to be asleep?  —It is one of those odd infractions parents can be ambivalent about: sure, he’s staying up too late, but hey, he’s READING! 

But if you let your phone, iPad, laptop, or television keep you up when you should be sleeping, you are foolish.  As a night owl, I fight these battles daily.  But I do respect “SLEEP HYGIENE.”  When I enter my bedroom, the light stays off, the phone goes on the charger (flipped over so no light escapes), and I go to bed and forget about screens. In bed, I cannot be distracted. 

Teenagers do not respect sleep hygiene.  Nor do twenty-somethings.  One pediatric sleep specialist calls them “screenagers,” because they have a powerful addiction to screens.  They feel a constant pull to check the phone, check social media, get a few more likes, and be sure they’re not missing out. The problem is rampant, and every night the average teen sleeps THREE HOURS LESS than he should. Are you a screenager?

Ask yourself: WWJD?

David Mathis paraphrases John 1: “The Word became flesh and slept among us.”  Mathis argues Jesus was GOOD AT SLEEPING.  He could shut out distractions (like screens), shut off his mind, and go to sleep.  He even slept during a storm—a storm so bad, waves were coming over the side of the boat.  “But he was in the stern, asleep on a cushion” Mark 4:38.  Jesus did not resent sleep or consider it wasteful as we are tempted to.  He respected sleep.

“It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, and to eat the bread of painful labors, for the Lord gives to His beloved even in his sleep.” Psalm 127:2.

What does Psalm 127 mean?  It means GET SOME SLEEP!  God will take care of you while you are sleeping—and often THROUGH your sleeping.

ΑΩ