Associations Between Smartphone Screen Time, Sedentary Behavior, and Physical Activity in Young Adults
Open Access
Author:
Faust, Abigail
Area of Honors:
Kinesiology
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
David E Conroy, Thesis Supervisor Lacy Marie Alexander, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
smartphones physical activity sedentary behavior screen time
Abstract:
Screen time has been inconsistently associated with adverse health outcomes such as obesity and depression. The mechanism of this link is not well understood, but it is possible that screen time impacts overall health by altering movement- and non-movement-related behaviors such as sedentary behavior and physical activity. Smartphone screen time is of particular interest because smartphones are universal and portable. The purpose of this study was to determine the associations between total smartphone screen time and sedentary behavior and physical activity. A secondary purpose was to investigate the relationship between frequency of smartphone use and these two behaviors. During a 9-day ambulatory monitoring period, smartphone use was measured using Apple’s Screen Time software and activity was measured using a wearable device. Increased total screen time was significantly associated with increased sitting time and decreased step count at the within-person level of analysis. More frequent interactions with the smartphone (pickups) were positively associated with step count at the between-person level and sedentary behavior at the within-person level. This evidence suggests that smartphone screen time has the potential to influence health outcomes by altering physical activity and sedentary behavior.