Doomscrolling late at night increases suicide risk, but texting someone at 3 a.m. does not have the same effect, a new study published in JAMA Network Open has found.
A recent study of adults at high risk for suicide found that what people do on their phones after dark shapes how they feel the next day.
“Nighttime phone behavior isn’t uniformly harmful,” Brooke Ammerman, a psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and the study’s co-author, told The Epoch Times. “How people are using their phone may be the thing that really matters.”
“We expected that nighttime use was going to be problematic,” Ammerman said. “But the middle-of-the-night active engagement finding—that it was associated with lower next-day risk [among high-risk people]—was the most interesting to us.”
Scrolling Versus Messaging
Over four weeks, researchers tracked 79 adults in South Bend, Indiana—54 women and 25 men, average age 35—all of whom had recently experienced suicidal thoughts or behaviors.
Researchers took screenshots of their phone activity every few seconds and categorized their screen use as either passive or active.
Some screen activities demand little thought or movement—such as browsing news feeds or watching short videos—while others require more engagement, such as messaging, typing, and searching online. Participants completed daily surveys about their mood and any thoughts of suicide.
Participants’ phone use and daily mood scores were then analyzed using a machine-learning model, revealing patterns linked with suicide risk.
Unsurprisingly, those who did not use their phone for seven to nine hours overnight—typically reflecting uninterrupted sleep—reported the fewest suicidal thoughts or plans. This was closely followed by people with four to seven hours of phone-free time showing higher risk, suggesting that shortened or disrupted sleep increases vulnerability.
Early-morning phone use was associated with a slightly higher risk, but remained less risky than late-night scrolling.
Among participants using their phones at night, late-night passive scrolling between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., had the highest next-day risk, while middle-of-the-night active use between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. such as typing or messaging had fewer suicidal thoughts compared with those passively using their phones at the same time.
These findings reflect association, not causation, but they offer new clues about how nighttime behavior and emotional vulnerability may interact.
The Strongest Buffer Against Suicidal Thoughts
Solid, uninterrupted sleep is one of the strongest buffers against mood fluctuations. Even mild sleep loss can lead to irritability, rumination, or hopelessness.
“From a strictly sleep perspective, neither [type of late-night use] is ideal,” said Michael Nadorff, professor of psychology at Mississippi State University who studies sleep, tech, and suicide risk and was not involved in the study.
“When we don’t get enough sleep, it has a lot of impacts,” he told The Epoch Times via email.
Lack of sleep weakens the brain’s ability to regulate emotions. “We are literally more sensitive to pain, we are not as sharp cognitively, our mood is poorer, it just makes nearly every aspect of our life harder or worse,” Nadorff said.
Such vulnerability can be especially acute among people prone to suicidal thoughts. “On average, for people with a history of suicidal thoughts, [not getting enough sleep] increases the likelihood that they may think about suicide,” Ammerman said.
Ammerman said she sees phone behavior as a proxy for the risks that come with disrupted sleep. “Using it either very late, in the middle of the night, or early in the morning disrupts what we would think of as a typical sleep cycle,” she said.
The hours before bed often open up a kind of late-night vulnerability as social contact drops with fewer messages, and the lack of distractions leaves more room for worries to grow. Scrolling can bring up upsetting or emotionally charged content, making people more reactive just as they’re trying to wind down.
Phones add another layer of disruption. Nadorff calls them the “enemy of sleep,” offering an easy distraction and emitting blue light that suppresses melatonin, the hormone that helps the body shift into nighttime mode, throwing off circadian rhythms.
Your Activity Reflects Your Mental State
Looking at how people use their phones can reveal much about their mood. Passive scrolling might point to low mood or withdrawal, while typing and messaging usually show they’re engaged or connecting with others.
“When we are just scrolling, that can lead to not only more loneliness, but also social comparison,” Nadorff said.
He suspects that late-night passive phone use is often spent on social media platforms, which prior research has linked to mental health challenges, including increased anxiety, depression, lower self-esteem, and poor sleep. Passive scrolling at night could stir repetitive worries or negative self-reflection—thoughts about past conflicts, things left undone, or personal challenges—which inevitably disrupt sleep and affect how people feel the next day.
Active use, however, may mean something else entirely. “If they are using their keyboard, they are more likely to be communicating with others, which can stave off loneliness, or be doing some goal-directed behavior,” Nadorff said.
That aligns with the study’s interpretation that middle-of-the-night typing may reflect coping. Messaging a friend, distracting oneself from distressing thoughts, or writing in a notes app may help counter them.
“We weren’t able to get at the motives in this study,” Ammerman said. “But when the keyboard is present, we at least know people are seeking something out. Whether that’s social support, engaging with an app, or even something like journaling, they’re producing something—and that really suggests it could be a coping behavior.”
Still, Nadorff cautioned against viewing middle-of-the-night phone use as beneficial overall. “I would recommend avoiding devices like your phone altogether and not using this study to justify doing keyboard tasks versus scrolling,” he said.
What You Can Do Now
With suicide at record levels—nearly 50,000 Americans died by suicide in 2022, and men die at a rate about four times higher than women—the study reinforces a timeless piece of advice: Getting seven to nine phone-free hours—essentially uninterrupted sleep—remains the most protective.
Nadorff offers practical steps for making that happen:
- Limit Blue-Light Devices: “When you are awake at night, you want to minimize your exposure to blue light,” Nadorff said. Phones and tablets are the biggest culprits.
- Do Something Calming Away From the Bed: Reading a physical book or watching a low-stimulation show can help you unwind. TVs also emit less blue light. Try to do things outside the bedroom so your bed stays associated with sleep.
- Return to Bed Only When Sleepy: This strengthens the brain’s connection between your bed and falling asleep.
- Don’t Use the Study as a Reason to Type More at 3 a.m.: While the research found that typing sometimes coincides with lower next-day suicide risk, Nadorff said it is not a healthy coping strategy.
- Make Changes Together as a Family: If phones go away at night, do it as a family—with one charging spot for everyone. “All of us would benefit from putting our devices down so we can get a true break and rest,” Nadorff said.
Where Research Goes Next
Ammerman’s team is studying ways to help people step out of screen activities that fuel negative moods. “Our team is even using computer models to analyze whether images and messages are high or low in emotional intensity,” she said.
The hope is that this work can guide tools that notice troubling nighttime patterns and offer simple, personalized nudges.
“We’re especially interested in behavioral nudges,” she said. “If we see a pattern, like someone feeling worse after a stretch of scrolling, the app might suggest, ‘Why not reach out to a friend or try an activity that’s helped before?’
“That’s a lot more helpful than, ‘Just stop using your phone.’”