When was the last you time switched off your screens (laptop, smartphone, tablet etc) and slept at a decent hour at night? Usually, we binge-watch TV series, scroll through Instagram, or watch random videos on YouTube even though we’re tired. Because we spent the entire day working and finally found time for ourselves only at night.
Clinical psychologist Aimee Daramus explains this phenomenon called “revenge bedtime procrastination” by saying, “When everything you do is about someone else’s needs, it might sometimes feel worth it to sacrifice some sleep. The sound of silence is a beautiful thing. No boss, no kids, no interruptions.”
last week my therapist dropped the term revenge bedtime procrastination (RBP) which is basically when you have too many activities during the day and you are almost desperate to take control of whatever little time you have left to yourself at night.
i am the CEO of RBP.— Kusha Kapila (@KushaKapila) September 25, 2020
Learned a very relatable term today: “報復性熬夜” (revenge bedtime procrastination), a phenomenon in which people who don’t have much control over their daytime life refuse to sleep early in order to regain some sense of freedom during late night hours.
— Daphne K. Lee (@daphnekylee) June 28, 2020
After discovering this phenomenon, many people on Twitter said that they’d been doing it to themselves without even knowing the behaviour had a specific name!
There's a term for everything that's wrong with me. https://t.co/OYinZLgfNO
— Cal (@AdamFredie) September 26, 2020
Oh that is what it was! Now I can tell me mom why I’m up so late in the night. It’s RBP. https://t.co/Ki8HDhwwUp
— Swathi Moorthy (@kpswathi) September 26, 2020
My god, it has a name https://t.co/JtHnHAZYr2
— Surbhi (@surbhzz) September 25, 2020
Chalo saalon baad iss feeling ka bhi naam pata chal hi gaya. https://t.co/SFmFIIPuoX
— Sapan Verma (@sapanv) September 25, 2020
OH MY GOD THERE'S AN ACTUAL TERM FOR THIS?? and here I thought I'm just shitty at time management https://t.co/Ies0C7XvCJ
— Pranav Sadarjoshi (@BrowndenStark) September 25, 2020
I'm not very fond of moments like this when social media explains me to me 🤨 https://t.co/Xtu29Yh660
— Vijayalakshmi Harish (@GranthaMaven) September 25, 2020
Damn sad, my way of controlling the night is to scroll on random YouTube vids and binge watching ;_; https://t.co/57AoI7DqHu
— Prerna Seerwani (@SeerwaniPrerna) September 25, 2020
I thought only I am that hopeless one. Good to see people in the same boat 🤭😂 https://t.co/BaabsmHfla
— Albus (@ArchieTheRave) September 25, 2020
While it is healthy to take time out for our interests like painting, reading a book, or watching a movie, sleep deprivation can have negative effects in the long term. Psychologist Aimee Daramus suggests delegating work, finding time during the day (like lunch breaks) and allocating a day of the week for staying up late instead.
Have you experienced revenge bedtime procrastination?