College Students’ Mobile Telephone Use Is Positively Associated With Sedentary Behavior

Abstract

While mobile phones (henceforth cell phones) provide nearly constant access to activities (eg, watching videos, playing games) traditionally associated with sedentary behavior, the relationship between cell phone use, sedentary behavior, and physical activity is untested. The purpose of this study was to assess these relationships. A sample of college students (N = 236) completed surveys assessing daily cell phone use, sedentary behavior (sitting time) and physical activity. Regression demonstrated that cell use was positively associated ( β = 0.23, P = .05) with sedentary behavior and not related ( β = −0.02, P = .90) to physical activity. Tertile splits were performed for average daily cell phone use and participants were grouped as high (n = 81), moderate (n = 77) or low (n = 78) cell users. High users (495.1 ± 227.6 min/d) participated in significantly ( P ≤ .03) more sedentary behavior than the moderate (417.1 ± 208.3 min/day) and low (395.2 ± 180.0 min/d) users. Sedentary behavior was not different ( P = .5) between the moderate and low users. In conclusion, cell use was associated with college students’ sedentary behavior but not physical activity. High users allocated 18.7% and 25.3% more time to daily sitting than moderate and low users, respectively.