Article Analysis Essay on "Let Teenagers Sleep In"

Introduction

The article "Let Teenagers Sleep In" written by Henry Nicholls tries to persuade people to let their children have enough sleep. After thorough research from relevant sources, he finally concluded that the idea of starting school as early as 8:30 am is entirely unhealthy for the children mental and science. At the same time, teenagers have had hard times getting sleep. Therefore, lack of enough sleep for teenagers cause mental as well as behavioral disorders. To support his logic reason behind the conclusion, Nicholls did a thorough research and came up with several concepts.

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First things first, the teenagers have got less time to sleep sufficiently as a result of the new technological inventions. The human mind is designed to sleep during the dark hours in most cases. Since the invention of televisions and smartphones, teenagers spend most of their time watching through the night. The statistics that have emerged are that 95 percent of the children now have smartphone unlike five years ago, where the statistics lingered at 35 percent. Presence of sites which are entertaining such as YouTube, Netflix, and other social media platforms such as Facebook have led to an increase in the use of smartphones during the night and more screen time. Other high school students are into computer games which they play for more than 3 hours during the night. Therefore, parents should set the limit of screen time that will help the children have enough sleep.

Secondly, schools have been demanding students to be in a class by 8:30 am, which means they should be up by 6 am. Minding that they went to bed late, they should not wake up that early. Organizations such as America Academy of Pediatrics, Center for Disease Control (CDC) and America Medical Association alongside other health organizations have supported the move for the children to report to school after 8:30 am and not before. In areas where such policy have been applied, the attendance rate has improved as well as the grades of the students. At the same time, the research has also proven that the rate of accidents has also reduced drastically is such areas. The economy of the country is expected to improve by not less than $83 billion in 10 years. At Brookings Institution, they also calculated that children who had enough sleep would earn more by $ 17,500 more compared to those who woke up before 8:30 am.

The positive outcome has convinced other states such as California to pass a bill that dictates the starting time for school. It is estimated that by 2021 most of high schools in the United State will be starting either at 8:30 am or later. Activists such as Terra Ziporyn Snider from Grass-root has been campaigning for schools to begin past 8:30 am since 2011. Ziporyn Snider remains upbeat: "Eventually a bill like this, created in the best interests of children, will pass. It is only a matter of time." (Nicholls 1)Such bills will change the United States future to a great one.

Conclusion

In conclusion, for the wellness of the tomorrow generation, children should be given enough time to sleep. The time that teenagers spend watching Television and chatting online should be limited at night. Schools must also change the starting time to a reasonable time that will allow students to have enough time to sleep. Lack of enough sleep can also lead to mental disorder, which can be avoided by having enough sleep. The children will improve their creativity as well as their grades in school. Therefore, the children should be given enough bedtime for better grades and better United States tomorrow.

Work Cited

Henry Nicholls. "Let Teenagers Sleep In." The New York Times. 2018 Retrieved on September 1, 2019, from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/20/opinion/sunday/sleep-school-start-time-screens-teenagers.html