Young couples are often in constant conversation over the phone, calling and texting each other all day and sending a goodnight message come evening. But for some, the communication doesn’t end at bedtime. A rising trend has seen Gen Z couples falling asleep on video calls with each other, known as a “FaceTime Sleepover”.
Fans of FaceTime Sleepovers include Brooklyn and Nicola Peltz Beckham. The heiress, 29, recently shared a screenshot to her Instagram of a nine hour and 32 minute video chat she had with Brooklyn, 25, while he was in Mexico promoting his hot sauce brand. “Who else sleeps on FaceTime when their best friend travels?” she wrote.
TikTok is peppered with videos of couples falling asleep on FaceTime together. In some scenarios, it seems practical. Long distance couples do it as a way to feel closer to each other, for example. However, many others show the potential pitfalls of the trend.
In one video with nearly 5 million views, a girl puts on a full face of makeup before bed. Her hair is clipped back in freshly blow dried ringlets. “Getting ready for the facetime sleepover in the talking phase,” reads the caption. There are thousands of comments from users saying that they do the same thing, with some saying that they write lists of things to talk about.
@ittzkatiem i definitely do not miss these days #situationship #talkingstage #relatable
♬ women screaming - jo
In other popular videos, couples describe their paranoia if they wake up to see the call has ended. One woman says she never stays out with friends past 9pm so that she can get home in time for her FaceTime sleepover.
Relationships expert Gemma Nice warns that FaceTime sleepovers could increase codependency. “It’s control over that person, even if it may be subconscious,” she tells The Standard.
Nice also sees a problem with the comfort blanket element. “It becomes a self-soothing thing, which means it’s going to be harder to fall asleep without doing it,” she says. This becomes particularly problematic in relationships between young people which are less likely to last: “it’s going to create a habit which will be very hard to come out of”.
For now the trend is growing by the day, with more and more videos popping up of people’s partners drifting off, their faces lit up by the blue glare of their phones.
