Question: Hi Alex! What kinds of links are you investigating between young people's phone usage and their mental health?

Alex Spiers answered on 14 Nov 2019:

Good question: we are looking at:

– Whether the time you spend on your phone could impact your mental health
– The type of activity (e.g. social media, gaming)
– Whether holding your phone to ear lots could affect your brain and cognition.
– Whether use of your phone prevents other, healthier behaviours such as sport or spending time in the park which is shown to be protective when it comes to mental health disorders
– Whether you use your phone at nighttime (looking at the blue screen at night) and whether it affects your sleep – we can see if the phone ITSELF is causing mental health problems, or whether it is the lack of sleep