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Smartphones Are 'Contaminating' Family Life, Study Suggests (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CBS News: Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets can be distracting from child-rearing, upending family routines and fueling stress in the home, a small, new study finds. Incoming communication from work, friends and the world at large is "contaminating" family mealtime, bedtime and playtime, said study lead author Dr. Jenny Radesky. She's an assistant professor of developmental behavioral pediatrics at the University of Michigan Medical School. Her comments stem from her team's study involving interviews with 35 parents and caregivers of young children in the Boston area. "This tension, this stress, of trying to balance newly emerging technologies with the established patterns and rituals of our lives is extremely common, and was expressed by almost all of our participants," Radesky said. "We have to toggle between what might be stress-inducing or highly cognitively demanding mobile content and responding to our kids' behavior," she said. The result, said Radesky, is often a rise in parent-child tension and overall stress. Modern parents and caregivers interact with tablets, smartphones and other communication devices for about three hours a day, the study authors said in background notes. Radesky's team previously found that when parents used mobile devices during meals they interacted less with their children, and became stressed when children tried to grab their attention away from the device. The new study included 22 mothers, nine fathers and four grandmothers. Participants were between 23 and 55 years old (average age 36) and cared for toddlers or young children up to age 8. Roughly one-third were single parents, and nearly six in 10 were white. On the plus side, many parents said that mobile devices facilitated their ability to work from home. But that could fuel anxiety, too. Some said smartphones provided access to the outside world, and alleviated some of the boredom and stress of child-rearing. On the down side, caregivers described being caught in a tug-of-war between their devices and their children. The study findings were published in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.
When I'm around my kid I just don't use these things, including video game consoles or watching TV. Even if my kid is playing well enough by himself I've got stuff to do anyway like clean or make his meal, only time I really have to pay attention to anything personally for myself is nap time or when he's gone to bed, or off with mom just the two of them.
Even before he was born I found that going online for too long was causing me stress and I'm not sure for what, I mean, at one point I was just refreshing favorite sites, making comments, soaking up any news item or just following trends like memes etc. My wife got pissed off because she wasn't into that and demanded I make time for her, and it got to the point where I had to do that or something in the relationship was going to go real bad. So I just cut back, and found I had a lot more space in my head to think, be creative, and enjoy what I already had. It only took about a couple weeks before I didn't even remember what I was doing all that time. It seems like a waste now.
But then my wife got a smartphone and Facebook was a thing and suddenly the script has flipped! Now I really see why she was annoyed. :)
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So much for children "being seen but not heard".
In the "traditional" Western family model, kids pretty much had to put up with whatever their parents gave them. Bad food, lots of chores, and lots of time being ignored by the parents (especially the father)? Too bad, so sad, suck it up. You had a roof over your head (when you weren't getting shooed outside so Mom could get some stuff done for once) and clothes on your back (albeit hand-me-downs) and that was good enough.
Sure some parents were wise, insightful, and pretty awesome during those few hours of the day when Dad wasn't working 50-60 hour weeks and Mom wasn't, you know, cleaning stuff or . . . whatever. Others weren't. It doesn't take cell phones and tablets for parents to find ways to ignore their children. My paternal grandfather would read sci-fi novels in the basement while drinking beer instead of interacting with anyone . . . including his kids (my dad & aunt).
About the only difference here is that parents would almost all have a few moments of face time with the kids that they could hardly avoid: dinner, and church on Sundays. So if you are using your phone during those times then yeah it can make a difference. But if they are getting more time with you during other parts of the day . . .