The Effects of Smartphone Use on Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour, Sleep, and Well-being

Previous studies suggest that screen use (phones, TV, computers, etc) may negatively impact both sleep and mental health (1-3). The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of reducing smartphone use on sleep, physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and mental health in adolescents and young adults aged 13-25.

Study Overview

• Status: Terminated
• Conditions: Sedentary Lifestyle
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: reducing smartphone screen time

Detailed Description

Participants will be asked to visit the Active Living Lab on 3 occasions. We expect each visit to take 30-60 minutes.

At baseline, participants will meet with members of the research team to provide informed consent (ages 16+) or parent/guardian consent + participant assent (ages 13-15). Researchers will then record participants' baseline age, gender, height and weight. Participants will then be instructed to download the In The Moment iPhone application which will be used to measure smartphone use. Upon leaving the lab, all participants will be provided with an ActivPAL inclinometer to be worn on the leg, and a Fitbit Flex to be worn on the wrist for 7 days to measure sedentary behaviour, physical activity and sleep.

Following the week of baseline data collection, participants will return to the lab to complete a series of questionnaires focusing on self-reported sedentary behaviour (International Sedentary Assessment Tool, Sedentary Disorder Scale, Social Media Disorder Scale and SHAPES sedentary behaviour questionnaire), physical activity (International Physical Activity Questionnaire), sleep (Pittsburgh Sleep Index), food intake (SHAPES food frequency questionnaire) and mental health (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale). At this time participants will also be asked to write down the daily time spent using social media apps (this information can be found under Settings on their iPhone). After completing the questionnaires, participants will be told whether they are in the Intervention or Control groups.

Participants in the intervention group will be asked to restrict their daily smartphone use by 50%, compared to the week of baseline testing. This will be achieved via the OurPact app, which allows the researchers to limit smartphone use to a specific amount of daily use for 7 days (participants will be asked to download and install the app after being told they are in the Intervention group). Once participants have used their allotted daily smartphone time, entertainment apps will not function until the timer is reset the following day (the address book and calling functions are never restricted, so participants will continue to be able to make/receive phone calls, and access their address book at all times). Participants will also be asked to determine a nightly "bedtime", after which their smartphone will be able to make/receive calls, but no other applications will be available. Participants in the intervention group will also be asked to leave their phones outside of their bedroom at night, and will be provided with a digital alarm clock to reduce the use of phones for this purpose.

Participants in the control group will be asked to maintain their typical daily smartphone use for 7 additional days.

After the 7 day intervention/control period, participants will return to the lab to complete the questionnaires for a second time, and to return the Fitbit and inclinometer, and have the apps removed from their phones. Participants in the Intervention group will also be asked to complete a questionnaire on their experience with the intervention, and to provide any additional comments on their experience in the intervention.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 7
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Prince Edward Island
    • Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, C1A 4P3
      • University of Prince Edward Island

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 13 years to 25 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Participants must be between the ages of 13 and 25 years of age, own an iPhone, use their phone more than 2 hours/day at baseline and be able to read and write in English.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Outside age limits, does not own an iPhone, cannot read and write in English.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control Group; No intervention
Experimental: Intervention Group; Will cut their smartphone screen time in half, sleep without phone in bedroom, and have a "bedtime" for their phone use.	Behavioral: reducing smartphone screen time; Cutting average smartphone screen time in half. Sleeping without smartphone in bedroom. Establishing a "bedtime" to stop smartphone screen time.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Changes in Positive and Negative Affect	Data will be collected using the PANAS scale. Scores for both Positive and Negative Affect range from 10-50, with higher scores representing higher levels of each.	Measured after the first and second week of study.
Changes in Depression Symptoms	Data will be collected using the CES-D scale. Scores range from 0-60, with higher scores indicating the presence of more symptomatology	Measured after the first and second week of study.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Changes in Self-Reported Food Intake	Data will be collected using a food frequency questionnaire	Measured after the first and second week of study.
Changes in body mass index	Calculated using measured height and weight.	Measured after the first and second week of study.
Changes in sleep quality and quantity	Data will be collected using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index	Measured after the first and second week of study.
Changes in Physical Activity	Will be assessed via Fitbit	Measured after the first and second week of study.
Changes in Sedentary Behaviour	Will be measured via ActivPAL inclinometer	Measured after the first and second week of study.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Prince Edward Island
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Travis Saunders, PHD, University of Prince Edward Island

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): December 1, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 30, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): June 30, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 12, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 21, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): November 26, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 29, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 26, 2021
• Last Verified: November 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: physical activity; sleep; mental health; smartphone; adolescents; young adults; sedentary behaviour; screen time
• Other Study ID Numbers: 6007767

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No