Television Viewing and Bedtime Procrastination: Ego Depletion Pushes Time to Bed Both Up and Down

• In Event: ICA Interactive paper/Poster Session I
  In Interactive Paper Session: Mass Communication Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

Sleep deficiency has been partly explained as a behavioral issue, resulting from not going to bed in time, characterized by self-control failure. It is often claimed that evening media use contributes to bedtime procrastination, but only rarely verified. How people’s state level of self-control relates to these associations, is also unknown. A sample of 234 first year students participated in a survey charting their activities during the preceding day and subsequent bedtime behavior. Results indicated that ego depletion was directly related to earlier bedtimes, explained by its similarity to fatigue. Ego depletion indirectly leads to later bedtimes, however, because it reinforces the propensity to procrastinate bedtime. Television viewing had a dual role in this model. Ego depletion was related to watching television longer than intended, and this fostered earlier bedtimes on the one hand. On the other hand, it fostered later bedtimes through a positive association with bedtime procrastination.

Authors

• Liese Exelmans, U of Leuven - School for Mass Communication Research

• Jan Van den Bulck, University of Michigan