Meta Just Agreed to Stop Waking Your Teenager Up. Don't Wait for It.

On August 26th, Meta reached a settlement with 47 states, the District of Columbia, and three U.S. territories regarding allegations that its products have harmed children and teenagers. Meta will pay at least $12.1 billion and potentially up to $17.1 billion over the next decade, depending in part on whether other major social media companies agree to similar restrictions. That is a lot of money for most of us, but not particularly a lot for Meta. Meta continues to deny wrongdoing, but the settlement resolves allegations that Facebook and Instagram were deliberately designed to keep young people engaged and that Meta misled the public about the risks of those products. For a summary I would recommend this article by Casey Newton at Platformer, who really goes in depth.

Meta also agreed to change how its products behave for teenage users. There are two changes specifically relevant to sleep health. The first is a nighttime block restricting access to feeds between midnight and 6 AM. The second is turning off notifications between 10 PM and 7 AM. They are also going to implement a two-hour daily cap, with pauses at 15, 60, and 90 minutes. This can be disabled with parental permission. Here is the D.C. Attorney General’s summary of the settlement.

The problems with the settlement

Although I think this is a step in the right direction, I really would not recommend that parents or teens rely on the goodwill of tech companies and their oligarch owners to keep them safe or help them sleep well.

First, the proposed changes are not in effect yet and it's unclear when they will be.

It is also reliant on Meta knowing the correct age of users; as of now it's pretty easy to circumvent verification on Meta platforms. As part of the settlement, Meta does have to build an age assurance framework for children under 13, teenagers, and adults, but they have a year to do so. It is also unclear how effective this will be.

Finally, teenagers need a sleep opportunity that allows for the recommended 8–10 hours of sleep per night. There is no reason this couldn't be, say, a 10 PM–7 AM blackout period nightly, or at least on school nights. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that teenagers ages 13–18 regularly obtain 8–10 hours of sleep. If the blackout is only midnight–6 AM (as it is under the current settlement), that allows only six hours of sleep.

You need to have control of the phone at night

I would not rely on your teen's willpower to keep them from using their cell phones at night. You need to have custody of the phones, either having them in a central charging area with associated consequences if they're not there, or keeping them someplace safe.

I've had parents who've really struggled with their teens' social media use who've actually gotten safes or locked their kid's phone in their car. Hopefully that does not need to be the case in your home, but we're not relying on anyone's willpower to not use their phone. How good are you at not picking up your phone when it's in your pocket or sitting on your desk? Honestly, I struggle with it. Your teenagers may struggle even more.

And there is evidence supporting this approach: bedroom access to phones and other portable media devices is associated with shorter sleep, poorer sleep quality, and greater daytime sleepiness. A large JAMA Pediatrics systematic review and meta-analysis found associations not only with bedtime device use, but even with simply having access to a device at bedtime.

I've been beating the drum on the issues with electronics in kids' bedrooms. One of the earliest posts I wrote on this site (back in 2014) was called "Get That Television Out of Your Kid's Room. Now.", written back when the biggest technology worry we had was bedroom TVs. I've also written about how and why to implement a light diet with your devices. And, finally, here's my guide to keeping technology out of your child's bedroom. This includes a guide to dealing with smartphone excuses and arguments.

The most cynical part

Perhaps the most breathtakingly cynical part of the settlement is this: Meta has agreed that the nighttime feed blackout will expand from midnight–6 AM to 10 PM–7 AM—but only if major competitors including Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube agree to comparable protections. In other words, apparently 10 PM–7 AM is a reasonable time to protect teenagers' sleep, as long as everybody else has to do it too.

Originally published August 2026. Last reviewed/updated by Dr. Craig Canapari, MD in August 2026