Do you take your phone to bed with you?

[Swisskit]

Talking to friends the other day, it seems that DH and I are in the minority, in that we leave our phones on charge downstairs overnight.

Which got me wondering if we're the only ones? I keep my tablet beside the bed, as I use it to read/play games etc before I go to sleep (and yes, I know you shouldn't ..)

So can we have a show of hands please?

I do.

I take it to bed to read MN every night. I keep buying books to read but MN takes priority

Oh God, this is me too! I'm a member of a monthly book club, so I really should read the book, but I always fall asleep MNing instead

I take mine to bed but it's on silent. Actually it's on silent 24/7 unless I'm expecting an important call.

Yes, much to my dp’s chagrin

Yes, it’s also my alarm. I also don’t leave phon, laptops, iPads on charge overnight as they could be a fire hazard

I have it next to my bed in case of an intruder. I set it to phone mode at the ready.

No I leave it downstairs switched off.

I do, I read MN until I fall asleep

I know screens aren't recommended as they keep you awake, but actually they have the opposite effect on me!

DH leaves his charging by his chair, but he wears his Apple Watch 24/7 so he has it on at night. My charging station for my phone & watch are on my bedside table, so yes, I take it 'to bed' at night. But I don't play on it, it just sits there charging and ready for emergency calls.

It's no different if it's a mobile or a landline. It's a phone in the bedroom.

Yes, it's my alarm and I don't have a land-line, I put it on do not disturb at night as I have friends who live in other countries that tend to WhatsApp me at night because of the time difference.

Nope. Mine's downstairs.

I'm old skool.

We take ours to bed, which is why I am wide awake at 1.30 as we had a call to let us know mil had had a fall.

Seems it was a good plan. Even if I am now wide awake again.

Laughing at the idea that you are suprised people take their phones to bed, whereas you are much more sensible and "just" take a tablet. They are the exact same bloody things!

I do because my son lives and works thousands of miles away and if he needed to speak to me I want to hear his call.

Charge mine next to my bed in case i need to be reached.

It's no different if it's a mobile or a landline. It's a phone in the bedroom

Exactly this. More importantly in the case of a power cut cordless landline phones won’t work so if you really want to be old school you need a proper phone point and a wired in phone olde style... within easy reach of the place you sleep.

I take my phone to bed if I’m at work the next day for an alarm, if I’m off the next day I leave it in the living room or in my bag to avoid checking the time if I wake up through the night, I hate seeing how little time I have left to sleep

Nope, I get far too easily lost in the black hole of the internet so it lives downstairs. The quality of my sleep has improved so much from doing this, and I read way more as well.

We take ours up and put them next to the bed. Partly to use them as alarm clocks, but also if there's an emergency in the night I don't want to waste time looking for a phone, I want to know where it is

We don’t allow any electronics upstairs (TV, iPhones, iPads.) I don’t wa to the children having them in their rooms, so we don’t either.
Everything stays downstairs.

underneaththeash

I am guessing you have very young children.

How will you impose that when they are 15?

Further to my middle of the night post we had another call shortly after (ambulance had been called) So yes pretty important to have some kind of phone nearby.

For those that don't have a phone in the bedroom does it not worry you that if someone needed to contact you in an emergency they wouldn't be able to?

Nope, we don’t either. They always stay downstairs in the kitchen - I plan to enforce same rule in children when they’re old enough for them. They are distracting 😁 and I think that the light they emit can distract sleep patterns if looked at just before bed.

@speakout - no, we have 13 year old an 11yo and an 8 yo.

We've started as we mean to go on. I think social media can be really damaging and I only want internet enabled electronics around when I can monitor their usage.

Don't want to sound preachy or alarmist but please don't leave your phone on charge overnight, especially in a room you're not in. DD left hers on charge in her bedside table last year and it caught fire, right next to her head. It actually cause the plug to explode and that's what woke her, but the fire caught really quickly and her curtains had started to burn. Luckily she put it out but not before some damage had been done and all the smoke alarms had been set off. I dread to think what might have happened if she'd slept through it, or if it had been charging in a different room. It was the original charger/cable, too, not a cheapie one.

In answer to your question though, yes I take my phone to bed because I use it as an alarm. DH doesn't because he doesn't use one!