17 year old on her phone at 3.45am

[BigSandyBalls2015]

I woke up needing a wee and saw her light on, she was sitting in bed on her phone and laptop! Said she couldn't sleep, but that obv isn't going to help!

She's a nightmare in the mornings and frequently late for college, this explains why.

I commented on another thread about younger teens and gadgets, DD and her sister had to leave everything downstairs overnight until their GCSEs were over. Then I thought I'd treat them more like young adults and they'd self regulate.

Clearly not working for her, so what do I do? Leave her to it? Watch her fail at school and her health suffer?

I'm not going back to removing stuff at her age or switching off internet.

I need advice on conversations to have.

Google articles on the science that shows the impact of screens on insomnia eg m.huffpost.com/us/entry/11407544

If she reads these she can make an informed choice.

I'd turn the internet off at night when you go to bed personally.

Thanks for link.

I really don't want to turn everything off st night, she's a few months off 18!!

Just mentioned to DH that we need to talk to DD as I found her on gadgets at 4am, wish I hadn't bothered! His usual reaction is conflict/threats rather than discussion "well cancel her phone contract and unplug the router".

Don't switch off the Internet or router or whatever. She's nearly 18 and has to make her own informed choices. Just talk to her about how concerned you are. She may just be having exam anxiety and in all likelihood won't fail.

At 17 I would let her make her own choices, to be honest.

I wouldn't just leave her to it. Screens can be almost an addiction. She clearly still needs 'house rules' of no screens at night time.

If you're going to leave her to it as some posters suggest, then at least carry that through to the mornings too - if she's old enough to sit on her laptop all night, she's old enough to get herself up, dressed & fed in the morning without any intervention.

If either of you are tech savvy you should be able to set up timed internet blocks on her MAC address - 01:00 - 06:00 for example.

Could be worse, she could be out drinking till 4am then having to go to college with a hangover

True , she does save that for the weekends!

I've just woken her up.

Just let her get on with it!! If she get in trouble with college, so be it!! She has to learn for herself the consequences of her choices. What are you going to do when she’s in her twenty’s and working? Wake her up for work? My son is 17 , lives alone in a foreign country, I have no idea what time he goes to sleep, he runs his own life!!

I wouldn't be waking her up either - surely at 17 she can get herself up and out of the door in the morning without help?!

I know I should just leave her and let her get on with it, but I can't bear it. I'm working from home today, DH has gone off to work and my other DD has gone to school. Why should she get to loaf about?

It'd be easier if I'd gone into the office. College don't seem to care whether she's there or not.

Hello, just wanted to share this little video about a report on Screen Time from Children in Northern Ireland - I think it raises some really interesting points. You can watch here: youtu.be/rhI_F3X2Oa0

Why are you dragging up old threads to do this?

She’s 17, she needs to learn time management and work out the best for her insomnia. I was the same at that age.

To be fair she is probably 18 now.