Vanessa Hill

I think for a lot of people hearing that phrase, they will feel guilt around bedtime procrastination.

They will feel cautious of their bedtime behaviors.

They may feel like they're doing something wrong.

And this is something that my research has found.

And I would love to dive into that.

Bedtime procrastination is when you intentionally delay your bedtime.

And an important caveat is without any external circumstances.

So not because your kid has been sick, because your dog is up in the middle of the night, because you're a shift worker and you can't go to bed until 2am.

You delay your bedtime because you want to.

There's something intrinsic and internal that makes you say, you know, I know I'm not going to feel as good tomorrow, but my night brain just wants some me time and wants to do something now.

And that's what I'm optimising for.

So you really optimize for the moment rather than your future self.

Now, bedtime procrastination really started doing the rounds online during the pandemic, actually, in early 2020.

And it was called revenge bedtime procrastination.

And in the public media, there was this concept that we were getting revenge on our employers or our kids or whatever the thing was that was taking our time and attention during the day.

Right.

And at nighttime, when the house is silent, when everyone has gone to bed, when you're finished with work and you're after dinner, work emails and whatever else it is you're doing, that time is one where you have complete autonomy and you can really dictate your schedule in a way that many people can't in the afternoon or other parts of the evening.

So what we found is that most of the time people are using screens.

So you're watching TV or Netflix or whatever it may be.

You're using your phone.