How many hours per day do you and your loved ones spend looking at computer monitors, tablets, and cell phones?

“I’m wondering whether anyone else has noticed an increase in seizures because of an increase of screen time,” one MyEpilepsyTeam member asked.

So far, research hasn’t shown that spending more time on screens directly causes seizures for most people with epilepsy. However, there are known seizure triggers that could be related to screen use.

🗳️ How often does screen use seem to affect seizures for you or your loved one?

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In this article, we explore the research on the relationship between screen time and seizures.

Photosensitivity Can Cause Breakthrough Seizures

Flashing lights or certain visual patterns can trigger seizures in a small percentage of people with epilepsy. This is called photosensitive epilepsy, and it’s more common in children and adolescents.

These flashing lights can appear on phones, televisions, or computers with little warning. Video games, television channels, and social media videos can be highly visually stimulating.

Several factors can affect whether a screen image triggers a seizure, including:

• Brightness
• Contrast
• Frequency of the flash, or how fast the flashes occur
• If your eyes are open or closed
• Distance from the screen
• Wavelength of the light

Preventing Photosensitive Seizures From Screen Time

If you or your loved one with epilepsy has photosensitive epilepsy, these safer screen time tips may help:

• Turn down the brightness on your device.
• Reduce the contrast of your screen.
• Sit farther away from computer screens and avoid holding your phone close to your face.
• Take frequent breaks from work, games, and social media.
• Wear polarized or nonglare glasses if you know you might be triggered.
• Cover one eye and look away if you’re suddenly exposed to a flashing light.
• Stop watching a video or playing a game if you feel symptoms of a seizure.
• Substitute in some nonvisual forms of entertainment: “I’ve started to just relax and listen to podcasts for a while,” one member shared.

While it’s hard to prevent all triggers, it’s important to know what to do when they happen.

Do Video Games Cause Seizures?

If you’ve ever wondered, “Can computer games cause seizures?” the answer depends on your epilepsy and your triggers. Computers and seizures may be connected for people with photosensitivity, especially when a game uses flashing images, alternating patterns, or a full-screen display.

Using a smaller window, reducing brightness, taking breaks, and turning the game off if symptoms start may lower the chance of a seizure in people who are sensitive to these visual effects.

Screen Time May Disrupt Sleep, Which Can Trigger Seizures

Several studies have looked at screen use, sleep, and seizure control in people with epilepsy.

A 2020 study looked at the association between screen time and lack of sleep in children living with epilepsy. Researchers found that, among 141 children with epilepsy, daily screen time exposure was higher and sleep duration was lower than recommended for their age group.

Daily screen exposure of more than one hour was also linked to later sleep timing and more severe sleep disturbances.

A lack of good-quality sleep can make people with epilepsy more likely to have seizures. Because the children’s screen time study didn’t measure breakthrough seizures, further research is needed to understand the direct relationship between screen time, sleep, and seizures.

In a 2025 study of 78 people with epilepsy, higher smartphone addiction scores were associated with poor sleep quality and greater seizure frequency.

However, this type of study cannot prove that screen use itself causes seizures. A 2026 observational study of 90 people with epilepsy found that sleep quality and stress were related to seizure control, but screen exposure was not directly linked with seizures.

The authors suggested that screen exposure may matter indirectly if it disrupts sleep.

Does Prolonged Screen Time Cause Seizures?

Although some studies have looked at screen use and seizure frequency, the results are limited and mixed. These studies haven’t shown that spending more hours looking at screens directly causes seizures.

Still, many MyEpilepsyTeam members have noticed a connection in their own lives.

“Spending too much time on my phone,” one member said. “Looking at this screen for hours increases my seizure activity.”

If you think that screen time is affecting your epilepsy symptoms, try tracking when you use screens and when seizures happen. Bring that information to your neurologist or healthcare team so you can talk about safer screen habits, sleep, stress, and your overall seizure management plan.