Sleep and electronic media exposure in adolescents: the rule of diminishing returns.

Electronic media has now pervasively invaded our households and one group of individuals that has clearly been a major and early adopter of such disruptive technology is the adolescent age group. The issue of screen and media exposure as a potentially adverse risk factor to health has now been enunciated for quite some time, and yet despite such ominous correlates, there is still ongoing debate as to the potential consequences of electronic media to adolescent well-being. Children in general, and more specifically adolescents, spend more time connected to media than to any other daily activity. It has been estimated that the media exposure revolves around seven hours per day. One of the major issues with such media abundance is the fact that even 12 years ago, most of the devices already resided in the bedrooms of the adolescents: two-thirds had a television set, one-half had a VCR, DVD player or video-game console, and >30% had Internet access or a computer in their bedroom. It is therefore not surprising that such plethora of bedroom devices and enhanced connectivity are likely to influence adolescent behaviors in many possible and potentially divergent directions. Increased media access will affect youth not only by reducing or compromising the time they would need to