To examine sleep latency and sleep disturbance as mediators between nighttime cell phone use variables (cell phone use for unstructured leisure activities and for accessing emotionally charged media content before sleep: CPU_BeforeBed and CPU_Arousal) and psychological well-being (PWB) of college students. 521 (74% female) undergraduate students from a large public university were surveyed using a validated self-report quantitative questionnaire assessing CPU variables, sleep quality, and PWB. Pearson correlation analyses were used to compute the correlation between CPU_BeforeBed, CPU_Arousal, sleep latency, and sleep disturbance. Ordinary least-squares regressions were conducted to assess the estimates of the relationships within the models. One-way ANOVA was used to see the difference between the groups. The partial eta squared was used to determine the effect size between the groups. The PROCESS method was used to perform mediation analyses. The sample consisted of undergraduate students between 18 and 29 years old, with an average age of 20 years (SD = 3.18). The sample was diverse in terms of ethnicity (49% Caucasian, 24% Latinx, 19% Asian, 3% African American, 1% Native American, 3% identified as “other”) and the number of years the participants had been attending a 2 year or 4 year higher institution (38% incoming freshman, 19% sophomore, 17% junior, 14% senior, and 13% returning senior). The correlation between CPU_BeforeBed and PWB (α = − 0.044, p = 0.615), and the correlation between CPU_Arousal and PWB (α = − 0.061, p = 0.228) were not statistically significant. However, the correlation between sleep latency and PWB (α = − 0.140, p = 0.001), and the correlation between sleep disturbance and PWB (α = − 0.121, p = 0.005) were statistically significant. The mediation effect of sleep latency on the association between CPU_BeforeBed and PWB (Effect = − 0.0325, SE = 0.0145, p < 0.05), and the mediation effect of sleep disturbance on the association between CPU_Arousal and PWB (Effect = − 0.0214, SE = 0.0086, p < 0.05) were statistically significant. Sleep latency and sleep disturbance act as a mediator on the association between CPU_BeforeBed and PWB, and the association between CPU_Arousal and PWB. However, CPU_BeforeBed and CPU_Arousal did not have a direct impact on their PWB. These findings may help college students in regulating CPU habits before going to bed. These findings may also help medical practitioners make informed decisions about the use of cell phones for patients with sleep-related disorders.