Estimating How Much Time Kids Spend on Mobile Screens
Official title: EYES: Estimating Youth's Exposure to Mobile Screens
Funded at University of South Carolina at Columbia · NIH-11447676 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A study to develop reliable ways to measure how much time a child actually spends on smartphones, tablets, and wearables, using built-in device data.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of South Carolina at Columbia NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Columbia, United States) |
| Project start | September 23, 2026 |
| Project end | July 30, 2031 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $615,658 |
| NIH project number | 1R01HD120668-01A1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11447676 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are children aged 0-11 and their families who use mobile devices and are willing to share device data for research.
✕Less likely to help
Children who do not use mobile devices or whose families do not participate in data sharing may not directly benefit.
What this research studies
This project focuses on children and their use of mobile devices. Researchers will create methods to identify when a specific child is using a device by analyzing app usage and motion data from tablets, smartphones, and smartwatches. The aim is to provide more accurate screen-time measurements under real-life conditions, addressing challenges when devices are shared among family members. The work will help researchers better understand how screen exposure relates to children’s health and development.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, it could give parents and clinicians a clearer picture of a child’s screen time and its potential links to health and development.
How similar studies have gone: Prior methods using self-reports have been unreliable; this project builds on newer passive sensing approaches to improve accuracy.
Where this research is happening
-
University of South Carolina at Columbia
Columbia, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Nelakuditi, Srihari — University of South Carolina at Columbia
- Study coordinator: Nelakuditi, Srihari
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.