Swiped: the school that banned smartphones: examining the impact of 21 days without a phone on adolescents sleep, well-being and cognitive functioning.

Dr. Emma Sullivan

Organization

University of York, UK.

Team

Professor Lisa Henderson

Dr. Emma Sullivan

Project Description & Objectives

This project formed part of a Channel 4 documentary called “Swiped: the school that banned smartphones” led by Boldprint Studios production company. As part of this documentary, a group of 26 Year 8 adolescents (aged 12-13) handed over their phones to be kept in a box at the school and were instructed to not use other devices (e.g., smart watches/tablets) for 21 days. We used Garmin watches to track students physical activity levels, sleep and HRV 5-days before the ban and during the 21-day phone ban.

Data Collection Process

We administered the watches 5-days before the phone ban within the school. We used the Fitrockr blank out feature to hide any activity data on the watch and instructed the students not to play with the watch settings. I then went to the school every week to sync the watches before the students handed them back to us at the end of the phone.

Fitrockr Utilization

I used Fitrockr to upload the data to the platform via USB (Multi-Sync app on central tablet) every week at the school. I only had several hours to upload 26 students data so it worked perfectly for the speed I needed. I then downloaded daily metrics for physical activity, sleep and HRV for each day of the study to be analysed.

Wearable Used

Vivosmart 5

Number of Participants

Duration

6 months (26 days per participant)

Metrics Collected

HRV

Daily Activity Data

Steps

Sleep

Fitrockr Sync Type

Sync via Fitrockr Mulit-Sync on central tablet.