Excessive smartphone use by parents can harm children’s mental health

A child talks at the dinner table about problems at school or an argument with a friend, but the parents are not listening: instead, they are checking their smartphones.

This scenario plays out millions of times every day across America and could be damaging children’s mental health, a new study suggests.

Canadian researchers report that children between the ages of 9 and 11 whose parents spend far too much time on their smartphones are more likely to suffer from anxiety, attention problems and hyperactivity later in life than children whose parents do not use mobile phones.

“When children’s emotional and physical needs are consistently ignored or inappropriately responded to, they are at risk of developing mental health problems,” said a team led by Sheri Madigan, associate professor of psychology at the University of Calgary in Alberta.

Her team published the results on August 16 in the journal JAMA network opened.

According to background data from the study, a recent study found that parents of young children now spend an average of more than five hours a day on their smartphones, with 27% of the time they spend with their baby being spent on their smartphones.

In another study, 68% of parents admitted that they are often distracted by their smartphones when interacting with their children.

Studies have shown that this type of “technoconference” in parenting results in less attention for children, fewer parent-child conversations, less play, and even a higher risk of injury for children.

During adolescence, technoference is associated with “higher levels of parent-child conflict and lower levels of emotional support and warmth from parents,” Madigan’s team found.

To examine the issue in more detail, the Calgary group examined data from more than a thousand Canadian children ages 9 to 11, collected at various points between 2020 and early 2022. The children were asked how much they agreed with statements such as “I wish my parents would spend less time on their phones and other devices” or “I get angry with my parents for being on their phones or other devices when we spend time together.”

The children were also examined for various mental health problems that developed over time, such as anxiety, depression, hyperactivity and inattention.

According to Madigan’s team, “greater (child) anxiety symptoms were associated with greater perceived levels of parental technoference in later development.”

If parents spend too much time on their smartphones, it is also associated with “higher levels of inattention and hyperactivity symptoms in later development,” the study authors said.

The magnitude of these effects on children did not appear to change, regardless of whether the child was a girl or a boy.

The team noted that it focused on children ages 9 to 11 because “this age range represents a sensitive period of brain development and is associated with an increased risk of mental health problems.”

Nevertheless, it is difficult to determine the direction of this effect: Are children more anxious and behave more abnormally because their parents are constantly staring at their smartphones, or do the parents of children with behavioral problems use their smartphones as an escape route?

According to the new data, it appears that stressed parents use their smartphones more when their children are more anxious. However, in adolescents, excessive smartphone use by parents can lead to inattention and hyperactivity.

Overall, the study highlights “the complex relationships between parental technoference and the mental health of adolescent children,” said Madigan’s team.

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