Overall, the search found almost no direct evidence on whether total daily screen time predicts dream recall frequency in mixed/any‑age samples—only a child study that includes screen time and dream recall 1 and a gaming‑specific study on recall frequency 3 come close; the rest of the literature addresses media type and dream content or screen time and sleep rather than recall probability per se
assuming you know you had a dream when you remembered/recalled that you had one.
If you would be willing to experiment, I’d like to know if your experience of dreaming is affected by screen usage before bed.
You could just copy what I’ve done, which is eliminating screen time 1-2 hours before bed, then report back here any qualitative/quantitative changes in dreaming. I’m curious what you’ll find! (even if there’s no change)
by coincident, I had some changes to my living arrangement so I was able to carry out the experiment
1st day: less than 2 hours screen time, almost 0 screen time after 1200 [noon], dreamless, but I was quite exhaust that day
2nd day: even less screen time and almost 0 screen time after 1200 [noon], I had a dream, felt to me like any standard dream, I was even more exhaust than the 1st day
3rd day: ~3 hours of screen time and almost 0 screen time 2 hours before sleep, 2 phases sleep, 1 phase dreamless, woke up at 0300 , back to sleep, phase 2 I had a dream, felt to me like any standard dream,
4th day: ~4 hours of screen time and almost 0 screen time 1 hours before sleep I had a dream, felt to me like any standard dream,
this seems more than the standard 30% chance of dreaming per day, so there maybe something to your assertion but I think it could be confounded by large-scale contextual disruptions increasing dream frequency [which may explain your situation as well] since I was moving to a new place
Undermind said this:
Acute environmental changes robustly modulate dream recall frequency: moving sleep into a lab tends to reduce recall per awakening relative to home, whereas large-scale contextual disruptions like COVID‑19 lockdowns generally increase nightly dream and especially nightmare recall in the acute phase, with partial normalization as people adapt
counter anecdote,
I am exposed to a screen at least 4 hours everyday, often before bedtime, yet I dream about once every 3-4 days
I also have ?some aphantasia [I could not hold an image in my mind, and it is questionable that there is an image to hold on in the first place]
undermind agree
https://app.undermind.ai/report/b640ab0305675fa1f2e0bd8dc0f706eb1010454258785d51ef11d3b1c0f9886e
assuming you know you had a dream when you remembered/recalled that you had one.
If you would be willing to experiment, I’d like to know if your experience of dreaming is affected by screen usage before bed.
You could just copy what I’ve done, which is eliminating screen time 1-2 hours before bed, then report back here any qualitative/quantitative changes in dreaming. I’m curious what you’ll find! (even if there’s no change)
?good timing,
by coincident, I had some changes to my living arrangement so I was able to carry out the experiment
1st day: less than 2 hours screen time, almost 0 screen time after 1200 [noon], dreamless, but I was quite exhaust that day
2nd day: even less screen time and almost 0 screen time after 1200 [noon], I had a dream, felt to me like any standard dream, I was even more exhaust than the 1st day
3rd day: ~3 hours of screen time and almost 0 screen time 2 hours before sleep, 2 phases sleep, 1 phase dreamless, woke up at 0300 , back to sleep, phase 2 I had a dream, felt to me like any standard dream,
4th day: ~4 hours of screen time and almost 0 screen time 1 hours before sleep I had a dream, felt to me like any standard dream,
this seems more than the standard 30% chance of dreaming per day, so there maybe something to your assertion but I think it could be confounded by large-scale contextual disruptions increasing dream frequency [which may explain your situation as well] since I was moving to a new place
Undermind said this:
https://app.undermind.ai/report/c7715f49ff459aad7314d809dc9f974c16f613d7564f1858c2ca7be25fc4de69