The vital time you shouldn’t be on social media
这个时候绝对不要碰手机和社交媒体
Today’s teens and tweens have built up an impressive amount of daily
screen time. Figures put it at between six to eight hours a day for
11-15 year-olds, and that’s not including time spent on a computer for
homework. In fact, even the average UK adult spends more time looking at
a screen than they do sleeping, according to one analysis.
今天，十几、二十几岁的年轻人每天把大把时间花在手机上。有调查表明，11-15岁的年轻人每天要花6-8小时玩手机，这还不包括在电脑前做家庭作业的时间。事实上，一项研究表明，英国成年人每天花在电脑上的时间已经超过其睡眠时间。
It starts early. A third of UK children have access to a tablet before they are four.
发生的时间也越来越早。三分之一的英国儿童在四岁前就开始接触平板电脑。
It’s no surprise, then, that today’s youngest generations will be
exposed to (and no-doubt join) the social networks their elders already
use. Snapchat, for instance, is extremely popular among teens. One
December 2017 survey found that 70% of US teens aged 13-18 use it. Most
of those questioned also have an Instagram account. Figures are similar
in the UK.
毫无疑问，今天的儿童将暴露在已经得到广泛使用的社交媒体之下，并且会沉溺其中不能自拔。例如，Snapchat就在少年儿童中非常流行。2017年12月进行的一项调查发现，有70%的13-18岁美国青少年使用Snapchat。大多数受调查者拥有Instagram账户。英国的数字与此大同小异。
Over three billion of us are now registered on a social network, many of
us on more than one. We spend a lot of time there - US adults spend an
average of 2-3 hours a day.
全球已有30亿人注册了社交媒体账户，很多人注册了不止一个。我们在社交媒体上花费大把时间，美国成年人每天平均花费2-3小时。
This trend is now exposing some worrying results and, staying hot on the
heels of social-media’s popularity, researchers are interested in the
impact it is having on many aspects of our health, including sleep, the
importance of which is currently gaining unprecedented attention.
这一趋势引发了许多人的担忧。在社交媒体不断普及的同时，研究者也在关注着它对我们的健康，包括睡眠产生的影响，而睡眠的重要性已经引发了人们前所未有的重视。
So far it does not look good. We’re now coming to terms with the fact
that social media has some clearly negative impacts on our sleep and
with that, our mental health.
截至目前，社交媒体对睡眠的影响看来并不积极。我们已经发现很多事实，证明社交媒体会对人们的睡眠进而精神健康产生不良影响。
Ever since the meteoric rise of social media, Brian Primack, director of
the Center for Research on Media, Technology and Health at the
University of Pittsburgh, has been interested in its impact on society.
Along with Jessica Levenson, he examines the relationships between
technology and mental health, looking at the good and the bad.
自从社交媒体异军突起以来，匹兹堡大学媒体、技术与健康研究中心主任布莱恩·普利马克（Brian Primack）就一直对其社会影响很感兴趣。他和杰西卡·列文森（Jessica Levenso）一道研究了科技和精神健康之间的关系，包括正面和负面关系。
When considering a link between social media and depression, they
expected there to be a dual effect – that social media might sometimes
alleviate depression, and sometimes exacerbate it, results which might
plot out nicely in a “u-shaped” curve on a graph. However, a survey of
almost 2,000 people revealed something much more surprising. There was
no curve at all, the line was straight, and in an undesirable direction.
Put another way, an increase in social media is associated with an
increase in the likelihood of depression, anxiety, and a feeling of
social isolation.
在研究社交媒体和抑郁症之间的关联时，他最初认为这种关联是双向的，即社交媒体有时会缓解抑郁症，有时则会使其恶化，二者之间的关系可以通过一条U形曲线加以表现。然而，对2,000人开展的一项调查发现了不可思议的事实。没有曲线，只有一条直线伸向人们不愿看到的方向。换句话说，社交媒体的发展和抑郁、焦虑和社交孤独感的发病率呈现正相关。
“In an objective way, you might say: this person is interacting with
friends, passing on smiles and emojis, you might say that person has a
lot of social capital, that they are very engaged. But we found those
people seem to have more feelings of perceived social isolation,” says
Primack.
"一般来说，你可能会说：如果某人在社交媒体上和朋友互动，传递微笑表情，就说明这人社交活动很频繁，拥有很多社交资本。但是我们发现，这些人却有着更强的社会隔绝感，"普利马克说。
What is unclear, however, is the exact causal direction: does depression
increase social media use, or does social media use increase
depression? Primack suggests it could be working both ways, making it
even more problematic as “there’s a potential for a vicious cycle". The
more depressed a person is the more social media they might then use,
which worsens their mental health further.
然而，我们对于这个因果关系尚不清楚：是抑郁使人更多地使用社交媒体，还是社交媒体的使用使抑郁症更加严重？普利马克表示，作用可能是双向的，从而导致更严重的恶性循环。一个人心情越抑郁，就会越多地使用社交媒体，而这会使其精神健康问题更加恶化。
But there’s another worrying impact. In a September 2017 study of over
1,700 young adults, Primack and colleagues found that when it comes to
social media interaction, time of day plays a fundamental role.
Engagement during the last 30 minutes before bed was found to be the
strongest indicator of a poor night’s sleep. “It was completely
independent of the total amount of time of use in the day,” says
Primack.
另一项影响则更加让人担忧。普利马克及其同事于2017年9月发布了一项研究成果，研究针对1,700名年轻人进行调查后发现，每天的社交媒体使用时段对于互动是一个重要因素。睡前30分钟是否使用社交媒体在很大程度上会决定当晚的睡眠质量。"睡眠质量与一天总使用时间毫无关系，"普利马克表示。
Something about keeping those last 30 minutes tech-free, it seems, is crucial to a restful slumber.
只有在睡前30分钟时间里不接触手机等科技产品，才能保证睡眠质量。
There are several factors that could explain this. A now well-told
caution is that the blue light emitted from our screens inhibits our
melatonin levels – a chemical that effectively tells us that it’s time
to nod off. It could also be possible that social media use increases a
person’s anxiety as the day goes on, making it hard to switch off when
we finally go to bed. “Then thoughts and feelings come back to haunt us
as we try go to sleep,” says Primack. Or a more obvious reason might be
that social media is deeply alluring and simply reduces the time we have
for sleep.
对于这一现象有很多解释。首先，手机屏幕发出的蓝色光线会抑制褪黑激素水平，褪黑激素是一种提醒我们入睡的物质。另外，使用社交媒体也会增加人的焦虑感，使我们很难结束这一天的活动去上床睡觉。"在我们试图入眠时，各种念头和情绪会萦绕心头，"普利马克说。另一个显而易见的解释在于，社交媒体具有很大诱惑力，会直接缩短我们的睡眠时间。
We know that physical activity helps people sleep better. More screen
time is also likely to reduce time spent for physical activity, a link
that has been established by research. “It induces more sedentary
behaviour during the day. If you have a smart phone in your hand, you
won’t be swinging your arms as quickly or moving your legs. If you add
that up over six months, you may have a new generation who are not
moving as much each day,” says Aric Sigman, an independent lecturer in
child health education.
我们知道，体育运动会有助于睡眠。而研究表明，玩手机会占用运动时间。"手机会增加一天中的非运动时间。如果你手里拿着一台智能手机，你就不会去做运动。这种情况持续6个月以上，你就会发现人人的运动时间都减少了，"独立儿童健康教育培训师埃里克·西格曼（Aric
Sigman）表示。
If social media use is exacerbating anxiety and depression, it could
then, in turn, impact sleep. If you lay in bed awake comparing yourself
to other people’s posts ranging from #feelingblessed, #myperfectlife to
air-brushed holiday snaps, you might well believe that your life is
somewhat drab in comparison, which could make you feel worse and keep
you up.
如果使用社交媒体会使焦虑症和抑郁症恶化，它也会影响睡眠。如果你躺在床上看着别人在朋友圈里花样炫富晒美照，你就很可能会感到自己的生活单调乏味，由此产生的压抑心理则会导致睡眠出现问题。
And so it seems there is a merry-go-round of interrelated issues at
play. Social media is linked to increased depression, anxiety and sleep
deprivation. And a lack of sleep can both worsen mental health and be a
result of metal health issues.
然后，过往生活中的种种不快会像旋转木马一样在你脑海中闪回。社交媒体会导致抑郁、焦虑和睡眠障碍高发，缺乏睡眠则会进一步损害精神健康，而精神疾病又会反过来影响睡眠。
A lack of sleep has other side-effects: it has been linked to an
increased risk of heart diseases, diabetes, obesity, poor academic
performance, slower reaction times when driving, risky behaviour,
increased substance use… the list goes on.
缺乏睡眠还有其他副作用。据了解，缺乏睡眠可能导致心脏病、糖尿病、肥胖、学习成绩不良、驾驶反应速度减慢、冒险行为、滥用药物等等问题。
What’s worse is that when it comes to sleep deprivation, it’s usually
young people who are most adversely affected. That’s because adolescence
is a time of important biological and social changes that are critical
to development.
更糟的是，受到睡眠不足影响的大多是年轻人。这是由于，青春期伴随着重要的生理和社会状况变化，而这些变化对发育至关重要。
Adolescents also take longer to build up what’s called a “sleep drive” –
which is the drive that helps you to fall asleep the longer you have
been awake, explains Jessica Levenson, of the University of Pittsburgh
School of Medicine. This contributes to teens in particular having a
harder time falling asleep at night, she says.
匹兹堡大学医学院的杰西卡·列文森表示，青少年需要更长时间才能产生"睡眠冲动"——一种使你困倦，促使你进入睡眠的机制。这也是青少年难以入眠的原因之一。
Levenson now worries that social media use, and the literature and
research around it, is growing and changing so quickly, that it is
difficult to keep up. “It’s our responsibility to explore the impacts,
good or bad,” she says. “We are just starting to cover the impact of
social media use. Teachers, parents and paediatricians need to be asking
teens: how often? When? How do they feel when using it?”
让列文森担忧不已的是，社交媒体，以及与之相关的文章和研究都在不断增长并迅速变化，很难跟上这种增长和变化的步伐。"我们有责任去研究这种影响，无论是好是坏，"她说。"人们试图掩盖社交媒体的影响。教师、父母和儿科医生需要监督询问青少年：你多久玩一次手机？什么时候玩手机？玩手机时感觉如何？"
To combat any downsides of social media use, it’s clear that moderation
is key. Sigman says we should all ring-fence particular times throughout
the day in which we can distance ourselves from our screens, and do the
same for children. Parents, he argues, need to have set places in their
homes where devices can or cannot be used “so it’s not a fluid
situation where social media is bleeding into every part of your life
without any buffer zones”. This is especially important as children have
not yet developed adequate levels of impulse control to know when is
enough, he explains.
为了对抗社交媒体的不良影响，需要坚持适度使用的原则。西格曼说，我们需要在一天的特定时间段远离手机，这一点对儿童同样重要。他说，父母应当在家里划定可以用手机，不能用手机的位置，"从而避免在没有缓冲的情况下，社交媒体完全渗入你生活的每个角落"。他说，对于缺乏控制能力的儿童，这一点尤为重要。
Primack agrees. He is not calling for people to stop using social media,
but to consider how much – and exactly when in the day – they do so.
“The bottom line is, when there is all of this power trying to keep us
glued to these sites, that’s going be hard for us to compete with,” he
says. He hopes that strong research and engagement management advice,
particularly when it comes to no-go social media times, will even the
playing field.
普利马克同意这一主张。他并没有呼吁人们完全放弃使用社交媒体，而是要控制使用总时间以及具体使用时间段。"这些网站对我们产生了巨大的吸引力，这种吸引力很难抵御，"他说。他希望针对青少年加强研究和管理，让他们在睡前时间段不要使用社交媒体。
As for adults, if you were on your phone before bed last night, and you
feel a bit groggy today, it may be in your control to fix it. You may
well sleep better if you put your phone away.
对于成人，要是昨天晚上睡前你手里拿着手机，并且今天感到精神倦怠的话，你就应当发挥自控力努力解决。只有在睡前远离手机，你才能获得良好的睡眠。
来源：好英语网
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