VARIABLES: 1. Sleeping Hours of Students 2. Screen Time of Students CHAPTER II Due to the COVID - 19 pandemic, children, or mainly the students, are always using their phones, laptops, or their computers. These technologies have become their assistant or companion in their everyday lives and daily learning. Students are now doing Online Distance Learning (ODL), and this means they are in for a ride of a long screen time. Every morning, students wake up, get ready for school, then open their laptops or phones to be ready for their online classes. Students from the Junior High School have 2 – 4 hours of screen time or classes, but after those classes, students are still using their laptops or phones. They have assignments and things to do that their teachers told them to do, and sometimes they are staying up late to submit their assignments, talk to their friends or play video games. On September 3, 2020, the Department of Education set a prescribed screen time for the students and teachers to follow. These screen times were based on the suggested guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the World Health Organization (WHO). The suggested screen times for Junior High School students from Grade 7 – 8 is in a maximum of 2 hours, and for the students of Grade 9 – 10 is in a maximum of 4 hours, 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. According to Dr. Joanna Cooper, M.D., the bright light from the screens triggers a part of our brain, that can delay our transition to sleep. In the evening our brain is too busy because of the things we do, watching the television, chatting with friends, or playing online games. Not getting enough sleep or having ongoing sleep deprivation, can cause someone to have excessive daytime drowsiness, lack of concentration, and having troubles performing their everyday activities. Children's sleep disorders are a widespread issue that can affect their health and well-being. With the rise in popularity of electronic devices such as portable tablets and smartphones in the twenty-first century, children are spending significantly more time in front of a screen, but the influence of this development on children's sleep disorders has received little attention thus far. The increased usage of electronic gadgets for study, leisure, and social networking offers several advantages. Experts, on the other hand, are growing increasingly worried about the impact of blue light from these electronic gadgets on the sleep-wake cycle. Two out of every three teens sleep less than the required amount regularly, and screen time may be to blame for sleep deprivation and other issues. Teenagers' screen use has been connected to a variety of sleeplessness symptoms. Screen time pushes out bedtime by delaying the production of melatonin, resulting in less restful sleep. Because the majority of teenagers have fixed school start schedules, sleeping later frequently leads to less total sleep and greater next-day drowsiness. Over time, chronically late workday bedtimes and weekend catch-up sleep disturb the circadian rhythm. There is significant controversy about whether screen usage promotes insomnia in teenagers or whether kids who have difficulties sleeping are just more prone to use devices at night. To make matters worse, excessive smartphone usage has been related to depression and anxiety symptoms, both of which are risk factors for sleeplessness. Sleep deprivation, screen time, and unpleasant emotions all may work together to promote harmful habits. However, the overall opinion is that screen time causes sleeplessness more than vice versa. According to studies, 57% of kids who use technology in the bedroom have sleep issues, and teens routinely report poor sleep whether they have a television or tiny screen in the bedroom, such as a smartphone. Some specialists feel that technologies that demand interactive usages, such as a smartphone or a video game console, have a negative impact on sleep. Others believe that because smartphones are held closer to the face, they may have a greater influence on melatonin levels than television screens. Similarly, sleep tends to suffer more when teens use screens in a dark environment, probably because their pupils are more dilated and allow more blue light to pass through. The more time a teenager spends each day in front of a screen, the more likely they are to experience disrupted sleep. Additionally, using a phone to contact others near night may result in less sleep as teenagers remain up later to await a response. Finally, keeping a phone turned on and unmuted overnight has been demonstrated to disrupt sleep when alarms for incoming messages awaken teenagers. Youth sleep deprivation can interfere with mood, emotion, and academic performance. Teens who don't get enough sleep are more prone to clash with their friends, and chronic sleep deprivation can lead to a weaker immune system, despair, and suicidal thoughts. Sleep deprivation and screen time are both risk factors for obesity, especially when screen time replaces exercise. This also contributes to greater weariness during the day, making the students not focus in their classes. CHAPTER III Research Methodology This chapter presents the research design, the sampling technique, the research instruments, the data gathering technique, and the statistical treatment that will be used in the study. Research Design The researcher will conduct the required procedures by using a correlational research design. Investigators will administer a survey to a sample or to the entire population of people to describe the relationship between the screen time and sleeping time of Junior High School students in Tanza, Cavite. A systematic method will be used to gather data from a sample to help identify the relationship between the screen time and sleeping time of Junior High School students will be conducted to gather information that reflects population’s attitudes, behaviors, opinions, and beliefs that cannot be observed directly. Participants The participants of the study will be selected junior high school students from three different schools in Tanza, Cavite. The researchers will not include senior high school students because of the difficulty in scheduling. There will be ten junior high school students from each school. The expected participants are students from different levels like; Grade Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten. The gender of the participants will be considered. There will be five male and five female students for each chosen school. To get accurate information on the actual experience, students (from 12 to 16 years old) will be selected. Research Locale of the Study The three schools are in Tanza, Cavite. The community has a population around 312, 116 residents (as of 2020) with approximately 60, 000 high school students and approximately 70,000 grade school students. The researcher will choose from public and private schools. The researcher will choose students from these schools based on two requirements, namely; their readiness in answering the questionnaires, and their digital and sleeping experiences. Sampling Technique The ten students in each chosen school will be randomly selected using the stratified sampling technique. The age, and gender are the cluster groups that will be considered. The actual number of junior high school students will be gathered through assistance from a teacher or from the Office of the Principal. Names of all the qualified junior high school students will be written separately on a piece of paper. These papers will be folded and placed inside a box for selection. Each student from a group carries an opportunity of being chosen as part of the sampling process. Researchers will appoint a third part to pick ten papers or list from the box to maintain unbiased representation and procedure. This procedure will be done to two other schools in Tanza, Cavite. Instrument The study will employ an on-line survey questionnaire. This process will help researchers gather accurate data safely during the pandemic. The scheduling and discussion of the survey procedures between the researchers and their participants will be done using ZOOM, Facebook, or Messenger Platforms. The questionnaire will have 10-item statements or questions. Each question will help the researchers identify the relationship between the screen time and sleeping time of junior high school students. The researcher will make use of Binary Scale and Likert Scale Survey questionnaire.
