In a World That Never Sleeps, Dreams Have Become the Last Refuge of Imagination
Dreams were once part of life, not an interruption of it; a space between reality and imagination, where the mind returned to itself after the fatigue of the day. But in today’s world, even sleep is no longer a sanctuary. A recent study titled The Decline of Dreaming: Modern Life and the Erosion of the Subconscious, published in Consciousness and Cognition, reveals that modern humans not only dream less than previous generations but that the depth and emotional complexity of their dreams have also faded.
In earlier times, dreams served as a bridge to the unconscious and to shared myth. From Sumerian epics to Freudian analysis, from prophetic visions to poetic inspiration, dreams connected humans to a larger story. But in an age where everything is illuminated, documented, and measurable, there’s little space left for mystery or darkness. A mind that never rests under the glare of digital light struggles to descend into the depths of true sleep.
According to the research, the average time it takes to enter REM sleep – the phase when dreaming occurs – has dropped by roughly 20% in the past fifty years. In other words, we dream less, and we awaken sooner. Chronic stress, artificial lighting, nighttime screen use, and disrupted melatonin cycles are cited as the main causes. In a world that’s always awake, even the brain forgets how to believe in night.
But the study goes further: it argues that the decline of dreaming is not just physiological; it’s cultural. In traditional societies, dreams were an essential part of communal life, something to be shared, interpreted, even honored. Today, talking about dreams feels outdated or irrational. We know more about the world than ever before, yet we experience less of our inner one.
In interviews conducted for the study, many participants said they could no longer recall their dreams. Some admitted they even “work” in their sleep; answering emails, writing reports, running errands. One researcher called this the colonization of sleep: the last private territory of the mind occupied by the logic of productivity.
Dream once stood for meaning. Freud called it “the royal road to the unconscious.” Jung saw it as “the mythic language of the soul.” For ordinary people too, dreams were bridges between the self and the unknown. Now, in the digital age, that bridge is collapsing. Dreams have been replaced by notifications, and instead of interpreting them, we swipe them away.
The study found that those who fill their days with rich, reflective experiences – reading, music, creativity, silence – tend to have more vivid and meaningful dreams. Meanwhile, those immersed mostly in digital environments not only dream less but report repetitive, image-based dreams that resemble the content of their feeds. The mind, it seems, dreams in the language it consumes.
One of the authors writes: “A dream is where the mind watches itself without interruption.” But modern life leaves no such solitude. Even in darkness, the glow of a screen lingers. The unconscious, constantly illuminated, begins to dim. We sleep, but the world remains awake; and that endless wakefulness slowly devours our dreams.
Psychologists warn that this decline in dreaming has consequences beyond emotion. Dreaming helps the brain process suppressed feelings, organize memories, and build new neural pathways. Without it, unprocessed thoughts linger in the waking mind; a mental fatigue that feels like restlessness even after sleep.
The study suggests that to reclaim dreaming, we must reintroduce aimless time; periods of stillness, silence, and disconnection. Turning off phones before bed, reducing blue light exposure, and allowing the mind to wander during the day can help restore the imagination’s rhythm. In short, we must relearn how to be idle; not lazy, but unoccupied enough for the mind to breathe.
And yet, perhaps we’ve abandoned dreams not just because of light and noise, but because of fear. Dreams reveal too much; desires we deny, choices we regret, truths we avoid. Modernity is built on control and clarity; dreaming thrives on ambiguity.
As the paper concludes: “The dreamless human is one who no longer speaks with the unconscious.” That dialogue once gave our lives depth and poetry. In a world that never sleeps, dreams are the last territory that still knows the meaning of darkness. If we lose that, we lose imagination itself.
Perhaps we should start taking sleep seriously again; not only as rest but as meaning. Because a mind that forgets how to dream will eventually forget how to be awake.
