Mobilizing Smartphones
Before my colleagues and physical activity advocates shun this idea, I would like to clarify that I am absolutely not suggesting that we need more screen time.Figuring Out What Makes Us Move
There is no indication that we will revert back to the days without these devices, so why not leverage citizen-owned smartphones to address one of the most pressing health issues of our lifetime?Active citizenship is not limited to physically active populations. In fact, I am not interested in making active individuals more active (I am one of those people) and thereby widening the existing gap between the active and the inactive. I am interested in making active people more engaged and inactive people more active—by using the same device that is currently a barrier to active living.
I am not sure if we can use screen time to reduce screen time, which is something that we are trying to understand. But, it isn’t radical to use a device that almost everyone owns to figure out what makes us move.
Engaging With People Is the Key
By taking pictures and recording audio and video, among many other innovative approaches, people we engage with are helping us build complex pathways to understand active-living patterns and develop initiatives to address urgent health crises.Youth- and educator-owned smartphones are playing an important role in remote engagement in this project, which is essentially a community-based intervention embedded into school curricula.
Each school in this community trial is implementing its own culturally appropriate land-based active living intervention informed by traditional knowledge, language, and community preferences. The land-based activities include plant identification, hunting, trapping, and fishing, among other activities driven by the seasons. In essence, educators and youth are using their smartphones to provide their perspectives as citizen scientists to help explain how the intervention is changing patterns of youth behavior.
Thus, the implications of effectively using this device go well beyond narrow discussions about screen time or even active living. This device can provide a voice to people and promote active citizenship.