A unique study by University of Victoria researchers is looking at the impact of smartphones on childrensa国际传媒檚 lives.

Education faculty member Sam Liu and Social Sciences faculty member Ulrich Mueller teamed up to examine the use of smartphones by middle and high school students, who routinely use mobile apps for such social vehicles as Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook and others.

The researchers recognized the place those platforms have in youthssa国际传媒� lives, but wanted to paint a clearer picture of the overall impact on their well-being. In other words, whatsa国际传媒檚 the impact on their attention span, school grades, friendships and leisure activities?

sa国际传媒淲e want to know how cell phone use impacts childrensa国际传媒檚 sleep patterns, friendships, exercise and emotional well-being,sa国际传媒� said Mueller in a release. sa国际传媒淭here is some research suggesting that up to two hours of smart phone use daily is actually good for children and itsa国际传媒檚 only prolonged periods of time that are detrimental. However, there is really not enough data to draw firm conclusions.sa国际传媒�

Mueller is researching the effects of outdoor play on social and mental child development.

Liu, who jointly created a questionnaire for parents and students to join the study, pointed out that schools are working with various cellphone policies sa国际传媒� from complete bans to embracing it in classroom learning sa国际传媒� to attempt to have a positive effect on studentssa国际传媒� habits.

sa国际传媒淭he questionnaire we developed will help us inform best practices for cellphone use in schools,sa国际传媒� Lie said.

To complete the questionnaire, parents and students can go to or to , and .