Amman — At 2:30 a.m., the glow of Salma Al-Rifai’s phone lights up her face. She knows her alarm will ring in four hours and that an important meeting awaits her in the morning.
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Yet her thumb continues scrolling through videos on the screen, postponing sleep for a few more minutes that keep repeating until they add up to an hour or perhaps even longer.
“I convince myself every time that I’ll watch just one video and then go to sleep,” Salma says. “But when I look at the clock, I discover that a long time has passed, and I can’t even remember what I watched.”
Salma’s experience is far from unusual in an age when phones have become the last thing many people see before bed and the first thing they reach for when they wake up.
In darkened rooms, people remain absorbed in their small screens, postponing bedtime again and again. Morning then arrives with fatigue and difficulty concentrating.
Paradoxically, many people stay up late not because they have tasks to complete, but because nighttime seems to be the only opportunity to spend their time as they wish.
After hours of work, study and family commitments, the phone becomes an easy source of entertainment and an escape from the pressures of the day, even if the price is sacrificing the hours the body needs to recover.
According to psychological and educational counsellor Raeda Al-Kilani, this behaviour is known as “revenge bedtime procrastination,” a term describing the deliberate delay of sleep to reclaim time that a person feels they have lost control over during the day.
She noted that not everyone who stays up using their phone experiences this pattern. However, it highlights a contradiction many people face: the desire to have time for themselves turns into a habit that drains their time and energy the following day.
From a social perspective, sociologist Dr Hussein Khazaei added that this habit must be understood within the context of the accelerating pace of life, the overlap between work and personal life, and the shrinking amount of time people can devote to themselves away from their obligations.
He explained that when the day ends without a person feeling they have had enough rest or entertainment, they try to make up for it at night, even at the expense of sleep.
He stressed the importance of viewing staying up late as more than a matter of individual willpower. A person may know they need to sleep early and understand how fatigue will affect them the next day, yet still struggle to stop scrolling, particularly when the phone offers an easy source of pleasure, connection and stress relief.
The cycle then repeats: an exhausting day, late-night scrolling to reclaim personal time, insufficient sleep, and an even more exhausting day afterward.
This pattern is also linked to the design of the applications people use, which employ mechanisms that encourage users to remain on their screens. Endless scrolling, autoplay videos and repeated notifications make it harder to stop, particularly when users move from one piece of content to another without a clear endpoint.
Someone may pick up their phone looking for a short break, only to find themselves moving between videos, news stories and comments without noticing how much time has passed.
Khazaei pointed out that the effects of this habit go beyond lost hours. Insufficient sleep affects concentration, mood and the ability to cope with everyday pressures. The content people consume before bed may also keep their minds occupied. Worrying news, arguments and social comparisons can make it harder to unwind, even after the screen is turned off.
This overlap is evident in the experience of Ahmed Al-Nimri, a 24-year-old university student, who said he sometimes sleeps for only three or four hours before spending the day exhausted and relying on tea and coffee to regain some energy.
When night comes, he feels he deserves some entertainment after a tiring day. He opens his phone intending to spend an hour on it, only to find himself still awake at 3 a.m.
In Ahmed’s case, the problem does not appear to be a lack of awareness about the importance of sleep, but rather a cycle that is difficult to break. Exhaustion drives him to seek a quick reward at the end of the day, staying up late increases his fatigue, and the next day leaves him even more in need of rest and entertainment. Caught between the desire to enjoy his free time and the need for sleep, he repeats the same negotiation night after night.
Educational counsellor Al-Kilani believes that addressing these habits requires understanding the circumstances that lead people to them, rather than simply blaming them for a lack of self-discipline.
Rest is not a luxury that can be postponed indefinitely. Similarly, asking children to regulate their use of devices loses some of its impact when they do not see adults setting a practical example through their own behaviour.
She added that a child who sees their parents using their phones in bed every night may struggle to understand why they are being asked to stop using theirs.
According to Al-Kilani, change is not limited to setting rules for phone use; it also involves reorganising the day so that nighttime is no longer the only available opportunity for rest.
Setting aside short periods for entertainment during the day or taking part in an activity away from screens may reduce the feeling that personal time must be reclaimed before bed.
She stressed that keeping the phone away from the bed, setting a time to switch off the screen, and using a traditional alarm clock instead of leaving the phone beside the pillow are simple steps that can reduce the temptation to resume scrolling automatically.
She also recommends replacing scrolling with a calming activity, such as reading a printed book, listening to relaxing music or writing down thoughts that are occupying the mind.
Al-Kilani explained that the change does not need to be drastic overnight. Gradually moving bedtime earlier, even by 15 minutes at first, may be easier to maintain than imposing a strict routine that proves difficult to follow.
Turning off notifications or activating screen-time limits may also help people regain control of their attention, but these measures do not replace the need to understand why they turn to their phones every night.
She emphasised that not every sleep disturbance is caused by phone use, and general advice alone may not be enough to address persistent problems. If sleep difficulties continue or affect daily life, consulting a specialist may be appropriate to identify their causes and determine how to address them.
Ultimately, the problem is sometimes not the desire to have some time for oneself, but the postponement of that time until the very moment the body needs rest. When the phone becomes a person’s final window to the world, they may forget to close it at the right time.
Reclaiming the night does not mean giving up technology. It means regaining the ability to use it without allowing it to drain the time needed to meet our most basic needs.
Source: Al-Ghad. Reporting: Dima Mahboub
