Study conducted by psychology professor tracks mobile device use among adolescents
CMU psychology faculty Sarah Domoff poses for a photo. (Courtesy Photo)
Through phone apps and wrist monitors, Central Michigan University psychology faculty Sarah Domoff is researching screen-time use of adolescents.
She has teamed up with app developer Claire Ann Vanga from the University of Edinburgh. The two met at a research conference in Irvine, California and began to develop a study that would rely on the data the app collects.
“I’m really interested how screentime, specifically mobile devices like our smart phones and tablets, may impact adolescent development,” Domoff said. “Specifically their social emotional development, as well as the educational outcomes and physical outcomes.”
After receiving the Faculty Research and Creative Endeavors Award through the Office of Research and Graduate Studies, Domoff began to work out the details and start the study.
Domoff and her team of three graduate and six undergraduate students use eMoodie, an app that records screen-time data and uses actigraphs, wrist monitors, to track screen use in children ages 10-12 in a study that started in May 2018.
The study specifically focuses on 10 to 12-year-olds in the Mid-Michigan area who have their own device, either a phone or tablet.
“We will be looking at how does different types of screen use predict mental and physical outcomes in 10 to 12-year-olds,” Domoff said.
Both males and females, as well as at least one parent, participate in the study. Parents and the children both answer questions and assist in answering questions about additional technology use, such as television and computer, the app can't pick up.
The data is collected from each participant for a week.
The eMoodie app records what apps are being used on Android devices and overall screen use for Apple devices. In order to get specific app information from Apple devices, the battery usage page information is recorded.
“What’s also really cool about the app is that it has what’s called ecological momentary assessment, which alerts the kids in our study to answer questions about how they are feeling, how they slept, have they experienced any cyber bullying or if there is anything that made them upset,” Domoff said. “This is so we can see in real time how those experiences may impact their phone use.”
The Child Mind Institute published "When Should You Get Your Kid a Phone?" by Danielle Cohen which discusses the risks of cell phones for adolescents, specifically ages 10 to 12. The article states risks from cost to cyberbullying.
"The more ever-present the mobile device is, the higher the threat of cyberbullying," Cohen wrote. "It’s also possible, through social media, for kids to be painfully aware of what they’re missing out on."
In addition to the data received from eMoodie, the actigraphs gather information on the physical aspects of the subjects. The actigraphs record movement activity and can determine whether someone is active, at rest or sleeping through an algorithm.
The graduate and undergraduate students have taken a large role in the study assisting with a majority of the tasks.
Domoff said the undergraduate students assisted with tasks such as recruitment, data collections, staying in touch with participants and weight and height intakes.
Andover, Minnesota graduate student Aubrey Borgen assisted a lot with the beginning of the study and spoke in Paris earlier this semester about the study.
Borgen said she has stepped back so that the undergraduate students can gain experience and is available as a resource to them.
When the study ends at the beginning of the summer, Borgen will be a part of the team that analyzes the data and writes papers about the results.
“The really novel and exciting aspect of this study is that we are using accurate measures of screen time and sleep," Borgen said. "A lot of previous studies on this topic have typically asked parents and children to just report how much sleep they are getting or how much time they are spending on screens.”
