Почему бы тебе не выключить уведомления перед сном?

Why don’t you turn off notifications before going to sleep?

Breakdown of Почему бы тебе не выключить уведомления перед сном?

• перед: before
• ты: you
• выключить: to turn off
• сон: the sleep
• уведомление: the notification
• почему бы … не: why don’t (you) …

Questions & Answers about Почему бы тебе не выключить уведомления перед сном?

What does Почему бы тебе не…? mean grammatically—why is бы there?

Почему бы тебе не…? is a common Russian pattern used to make a gentle suggestion, roughly How about you…? / Why don’t you…?
The particle бы adds a hypothetical/softening tone (related to the conditional). Without бы, Почему ты не выключаешь…? more easily sounds like a real question or complaint (Why aren’t you turning… off?), whereas Почему бы тебе не выключить…? is clearly a suggestion.

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Why is тебе used instead of ты?

тебе is the dative form of ты and often appears in suggestion patterns like Почему бы тебе не…?.
Literally, it’s like Why not for you to…?, but in natural English you’d still translate it as Why don’t you…? or How about you…?. Dative here marks the person the suggestion is directed to.

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Why is there a не before the verb—doesn’t that make it negative?

In this construction, не is required and doesn’t make the overall meaning negative in the way English don’t might.
Russian commonly forms suggestions with не + infinitive after почему бы:

• Почему бы тебе не выключить…? = suggestion
  If you remove не, it sounds unnatural or changes the structure.

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Why is the verb выключить (perfective) and not выключать (imperfective)?

выключить (perfective) focuses on a single completed action: to turn off (once), to switch off—perfect for before bed.
выключать (imperfective) would suggest a repeated/habitual action or process, like Why don’t you (generally) turn off notifications before sleeping? Both are possible, but выключить is the most natural for a one-time concrete suggestion.

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What case is уведомления in here, and why?

уведомления is the direct object of выключить, so it’s in the accusative case. For inanimate plural nouns like this, accusative = nominative form, so it looks the same as the dictionary plural: уведомления.

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Does уведомления mean phone/app notifications specifically?

Usually, yes. In modern Russian, уведомления very commonly refers to phone/app/system notifications. Contextually, this sentence strongly suggests phone notifications, though it can also mean notifications in a broader sense (alerts, system messages).

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Why is it перед сном and not something like перед сон?

The preposition перед requires the instrumental case.

• сон (nominative) → сном (instrumental)
  So перед сном literally means before sleep / before going to bed.

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Is перед сном the same as перед тем как лечь спать?

They’re close, but not identical in tone/precision:

• перед сном = shorter, more general: before bed / before sleep
• перед тем как лечь спать = more explicit: before you lie down to sleep
  The original sentence uses the more natural, compact everyday phrasing.

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How polite is this—could it sound rude?

It’s generally polite and mild, like a friendly suggestion. Tone depends on intonation and context.
If you need more formality (to someone you address as вы), you’d say:

• Почему бы вам не выключить уведомления перед сном?

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Can I say Почему бы не выключить уведомления перед сном? without тебе?

Yes. Dropping тебе makes it more general/impersonal: Why not turn off notifications before bed?
With тебе, it’s clearly directed at one person: Why don’t you…?

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What are some natural alternatives to express the same idea?

Common options, from neutral to more direct:

• Может, выключишь уведомления перед сном? (soft suggestion)
• Давай выключим уведомления перед сном. (let’s…; includes the speaker)
• Выключи уведомления перед сном. (imperative; can sound more direct)
• Не забудь выключить уведомления перед сном. (Don’t forget to…)