I've been getting around 2-5 hours of sleep every single day now, and it has mostly been cause by scratch and just having a computer in general, since my nights have comprised of, working on project, mindlessly refreshing my notification inbox, talking to friends, and at around 5:30 AM to 6:30 AM I fall asleep and usually wake up at around 8:00-ish for school, and I haven't really gotten much sleep, I've been getting more and more anxious and nervous due to the insomnia, to the point where it's gotten to where I am right now, writing this at 1:44 AM, I decided to write this because the insomnia got extremely bad, I started shaking a bit and aI got light-headed, I had to wake my parents up for advice on what to do, I'm not sure if the shakiness and light-headedness are both symptoms of insomnia, but either way I still need to get more sleep, so I thought I would take a break for scratch and the internet as a whole, and I just thought coming on here for some validation would be helpful, cause for some reason validation always helps me do something I need to do.

Scratch is not the place to ask for advice on this matter, let alone the Requests subforum. I could count the number of trained medical professionals that have verified accounts here on one hand. Most of the people here are under 16 and won't know how to assist. If you need help actually solving this problem, talk to your doctor.

What I can say is you should try your hardest to get to bed on time and avoid excessive use of technology. Try to set yourself a weekly goal and go to sleep 1 hour earlier each week. If you manage to reach that goal and sleep 7 days a week on time, you can try going to sleep 1 hour earlier the next. Try to aim for 10pm, and set alarms around your bedtime so you know when to sleep. Avoid technology 1 hour before bedtime, and do some light stretches to decompress.

Talking to your parents is a good first step. You might (or they might) want to look into apps that can help you set limits on your use of Scratch or other sites.

Lemme tell ya buddy, you don't know the half of it. At this point I fall asleep at 3am.

Paddle2See wrote:

Talking to your parents is a good first step. You might (or they might) want to look into apps that can help you set limits on your use of Scratch or other sites.

Paddle, did you mean to close this…?

Also I kinda wished that my parents didn’t have limits for me on scratch actually and my games too

hydrofungus wrote:

Paddle2See wrote:

Talking to your parents is a good first step. You might (or they might) want to look into apps that can help you set limits on your use of Scratch or other sites.

Paddle, did you mean to close this…?

Also I kinda wished that my parents didn’t have limits for me on scratch actually and my games too

Thought I'd leave it open for a while. This is a pretty common problem on Scratch. It might be good to hear different coping strategies - so long as it is clear that it isn't a substitute for real medical advice.

You could try setting a timer, or as Paddle said, try talking to your parents. Another thing you could try is to limit your use of Scratch to a specific time of day, so that it's off-limits from (example) 8:00pm to 8:00am.

Listen, if you are using Scratch that much, you should probably attempt to focus on something else, I dunno.
Play with family or help them out, while time does pass faster doing nothing, only real thing we can reccomend is that you set a more standardized time of when you are on, limit your online time, even if it might annoy you.
I'm basically terminally online most of the time so I struggle getting away from my devices, but the only thing I can say to you is try to do something else, even if it may be boring.

Paddle2See wrote:

(#6)
(…) so long as it is clear that it isn't a substitute for real medical advice.

Thank god, got worried (EDIT: That someone would suddenly grant medical advice, since the only doctors trustable are the ones actually verified and not an internet anon).
EDIT2: Also got somewhat ninja'd.

I'd say take a break from whatever sites you're using that are keeping you up that late. If it's Scratch or an emailing service, take a break from it!

Of course, I'm not a doctor, so please tell your parents about it before doing anything.

With Scratch, it's a little easier. Give yourself a week (or longer, if you need it), and don't go on Scratch at all. Don't sign in (or go to the website if you leave yourself signed in.) Don't check your messages or go on Scratch at all, even signed out. This might help.

With some sort of emailing service, tell your friends you can't message them late in the night. I get that sometimes you might want to (almost everyone faces that issue sometimes!), but it's better if you don't. As other people have said, spend a specific amount of time each day texting or emailing (or just communicating with friends.) It's totally okay to not follow this step (it's up to you!), but if you are having issues, let your friends and family know. Most good friends will listen to you and not communicate with you late in the night if that's not what you want.

As Scythn has said, too, spend time doing other things you enjoy. Draw, read, or anything else that's not on a screen.

If it gets worse even by limiting your screen time, talk to your parents and a doctor about what's happening. If you don't want to fully restrict your screen time, try stopping electronics one hour before you sleep. It could help!

I hope this helped. If you need anything else, feel free to ask.

kollin-angelos wrote:

Or touch grass… go outside

That's a good idea. Sometimes exercise can help you sleep better at night.

I recommend either limiting time on scratch or screentime as a whole, you might not even have to take a break at all, just do your best at enforcing rules to help limit your screen time. I would recommend staying away from screens 1-2 hours before you go to sleep. I'm no doctor but it sounds like your brain becomes too active while looking at screens, causing you to have trouble sleeping. Changing sleep habits might work too, try white noise or music you are comfortable sleeping to, maybe also keep some water nearby.