In the quiet hours between ten at night and six in the morning, a generation of students had quietly surrendered their sleep to the glow of their screens — not out of ignorance, but out of habit too entrenched to break alone. In October 2025, four final-year students at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore designed a campaign called 'Phone Sleeps First,' enrolling 313 undergraduates across the country's universities in a structured attempt to reclaim the night. What they found was not that awareness changes behavior, but that community does — and that an hour of sleep, recovered throu
NTU Campaign Helps Students Cut Late-Night Phone Use by Over an Hour
Awareness has not been translated to habit change
Mark
Why did awareness alone fail? Students knew phones were bad for sleep, yet kept scrolling until 3am.
Mimi
Because knowing and doing are different things. You can understand the harm intellectually and still reach for your phone out of habit, boredom, or the pull of whatever's on the screen. The campaign recognized that and stopped trying to convince people and started helping them change.
Mark
What made the peer support element so crucial?
Mimi
When you're the only person trying to break a habit, it feels like a personal failure when you slip. But when you're in a group doing it together, checking in on a Telegram channel, seeing others' progress—it becomes normal. The habit becomes social rather than solitary.
Mark
The longest challenges produced the biggest drops in screen time. Why does duration matter?
Mimi
Habits need time to rewire. A three-night challenge is enough to notice a difference, but seven nights actually lets your brain start to accept the new routine as normal. By day seven, you're not white-knuckling it anymore—you're just living differently.
Mark
One student used their phone for the entire eight-hour sleep window. Did they participate?
Mimi
The source doesn't say whether that extreme case was part of the campaign or just cited as an example of how bad it can get. But the fact that the average reduction was 58 to 81 minutes suggests the campaign reached people across the spectrum, not just the moderately addicted.
Mark
What happens after the campaign ends? Do people relapse?
Mimi
Eighty-one percent reported strong intention to maintain the routines, which is promising. But intention and sustained behavior are different. The real test is whether the habits stick when there's no Telegram channel reminding you, no peer group checking in. That's the next question.
Le Pouls
- Across Singapore's universities, students were spending up to three and a half hours on their phones during the very hours meant for sleep — one participant used their device for the entire eight-hour window.
- The damage was well understood but stubbornly persistent: screens delay sleep onset, fragment rest, and rewire the brain to treat the bed as an entertainment space rather than a place of recovery.
- Four NTU students built a campaign not around warnings but around action — challenge rounds, offline evening routines, peer Telegram channels, and screenshot accountability during the 10pm–6am sleep window.
- Participants cut their nightly screen time by 58 to 81 minutes, with longer challenges producing stronger habit formation and 81% intending to maintain their new routines after the campaign ended.
- Medical experts confirm the intervention addresses a genuine clinical risk, and the campaign's results suggest that peer-supported, low-friction behavior design may be the missing piece in tackling youth sleep disorders at scale.
In the quiet hours between ten at night and six in the morning, a generation of students had quietly surrendered their sleep to the glow of their screens — not out of ignorance, but out of habit too entrenched to break alone. In October 2025, four final-year students at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore designed a campaign called 'Phone Sleeps First,' enrolling 313 undergraduates across the country's universities in a structured attempt to reclaim the night. What they found was not that awareness changes behavior, but that community does — and that an hour of sleep, recovered through small acts and shared accountability, carries consequences far beyond the bedroom.
Nurul Izzah had been scrolling until three in the morning for years — a habit that began in polytechnic and had grown so fixed by her fourth year at the Singapore University of Social Sciences that even her parents had stopped trying to change it. Then, in October 2025, she joined 'Phone Sleeps First,' a campaign designed by four final-year NTU communication students to address one of the most quietly damaging routines of student life.
The science was already settled. Phone use before bed delays sleep onset, fragments rest, and keeps the brain in a state of activation it cannot easily leave. The duration of scrolling matters more than the light itself, and the emotional charge of what students consume — messages, outrage, games — keeps the mind switched on long after the body needs to wind down. Over time, the bed stops being a place for sleep at all.
What the NTU team understood was that students didn't need more information. They needed a structure for actually changing. Led by Joy Chew, the campaign enrolled 313 undergraduates across Singapore's six autonomous universities in challenge rounds of three to seven nights. Participants kept phones away from their beds, activated Do Not Disturb mode, and replaced scrolling with offline activities. They submitted screenshots of their device use during the designated 10pm–6am window and completed surveys tracking sleep quality and daytime energy.
The results were measurable. Students who had been spending two and a half to three and a half hours on their phones during those hours cut their screen time by between 58 and 81 minutes. Longer challenges produced larger drops, suggesting that sustained practice builds genuine habit. Eighty-one percent said they intended to keep the new routines after the campaign ended.
Izzah noticed the change in her body before she noticed it in her schedule. She woke less groggy. She concentrated more easily. She stopped reaching for her phone past midnight. The campaign had worked not through strict rules but through small adjustments, shared accountability, and a Telegram community where participants tracked progress together. Dr. Leonard Eng of Singapore General Hospital described the underlying logic plainly: breaking the cycle requires not just knowing better, but doing differently — and doing it alongside others who are doing the same.
Nurul Izzah spent her nights the way many students do: working late, then reaching for her phone and scrolling until three in the morning. The habit had started in polytechnic, when she no longer needed to wake early for classes. By the time she reached her fourth year at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, studying marketing, the pattern was so ingrained that her parents had given up nagging her about it.
Then, in October 2025, she joined an experiment. Four final-year communication studies students at Nanyang Technological University had designed a campaign called "Phone Sleeps First," aimed at a simple problem with surprisingly stubborn roots: the way young people use their devices right before bed, and how that destroys their sleep. Izzah became one of 313 undergraduates across Singapore's six autonomous universities who signed up to try something different.
The science behind the campaign was straightforward. Researchers have long documented that phone use before sleep delays the moment you actually fall asleep, fragments the rest you do get, and leaves you exhausted the next day. The light matters somewhat. But what matters more is the duration—how long you're scrolling—and the emotional charge of what you're reading. Messaging, gaming, scrolling through outrage: these keep your brain switched on when it should be winding down. Over time, the bed itself becomes a place for entertainment rather than rest, and your brain rewires accordingly.
What made the NTU campaign different was not the awareness it offered. Students already knew phones were bad for sleep. What they needed was a way to actually change the behavior. The organizers, led by Joy Chew, designed four challenge rounds lasting between three and seven nights. Participants kept their phones away from their beds, turned on Do Not Disturb mode, and filled their evening hours with offline activities—reading, journaling, anything but scrolling. They submitted screenshots of their device use during the designated sleep window of 10pm to 6am, and completed surveys before and after each round about their sleep quality and daytime energy.
Before the campaign, participants were spending two and a half to three and a half hours on their phones during those eight-hour windows. One student used their phone for the entire sleep period. The campaign changed that. Students cut their nightly screen time by between 58 and 81 minutes—roughly an hour less. The longer challenges produced the biggest drops, suggesting that sustaining the new routine for more days actually built stronger habits. Eighty-one percent of participants reported they intended to keep the healthier bedtime routines after the project ended.
Izzah felt the difference immediately. She woke less groggy. She focused better in class. She stopped reaching for her phone past midnight. As she prepared to enter the workforce, she said, she realized she couldn't sustain the old pattern anyway. She also wanted to be a good example for her younger sibling.
The campaign's success hinged on something simpler than strict rules or major lifestyle overhauls. Instead, the organizers asked for small, manageable changes. They built community around the challenge, encouraging participants to join with friends and join a Telegram channel where the team shared tips, tracked progress, and offered reminders. Participants weren't going through this alone. They were part of something, supported by peers doing the same thing.
Dr. Leonard Eng, a psychiatrist at Singapore General Hospital, explained the mechanics of what was happening. Phone use at bedtime doesn't just steal sleep—it delays it, increases the risk of insomnia, and keeps your mind in a state of activation when it should be powering down. The habit becomes so embedded that your brain stops seeing the bed as a place for rest. Breaking that cycle requires not just knowing better, but doing differently, and doing it with others who are doing the same. The NTU campaign showed that when you remove the friction, add the support, and give people time to build new patterns, they actually stick.
Citations marquantes
I realised I could not sustain the prolonged use, especially as I prepare to enter the workforce. I also want to be a good role model for my younger sibling.— Nurul Izzah, fourth-year marketing student
Awareness has not been translated to habit change. So that was the main focus of our campaign—more than awareness, we want to enact behaviour change.— Joy Chew, campaign organizer
Envie de l'histoire complète ?
Lire l'original sur The Star ↗
Education