Parent trap: Phones, tablets compete with children for attention

Parents who use mobile technology around their children might want to rethink where they focus their time. Researchers have found that the use of smartphones and tablets to check on work email and using Facebook while in the company of the little ones can cause internal tension and negative interactions.

"Parents are constantly feeling like they are in more than one place at once while parenting," said Jenny Radesky, MD, a child behavior expert and pediatrician at University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital who conducted the study with colleagues from Boston Medical Center. "They're still 'at work,' they're keeping up socially, all while trying to cook dinner and attend to their kids.

"It's much harder to toggle between mom or dad brain and other aspects of life because the boundaries have all blurred together. We wanted to understand how this was affecting parents emotionally. We found that parents are struggling to balance family time and the desire to be present at home with technology-based expectations like responding to work and other demands."

The study interviewed a group of 35 mothers, fathers and grandmothers on how they felt about using mobile technology and how it effects them.

Results showed the following:

• Parents used mobile devices, including phones and tablets, for an average of three hours a day.
• Participants showed an internal struggle between using mobile technology, work and caring for children.
• Some reported a trickle-down effect, meaning emotions tied to mobile devices used for work or receiving bad news affected their interactions with their children.
• Parents noticed more attention-seeking behavior from their children when they were using mobile devices.
• Mobile technology also gave the feeling of getting away from a hectic family life.

"Technology has transformed the way parents use digital media around their children. Compared to traditional distractions like books, mobile technology is described as much more commanding of attention and requires a greater emotional investment,” said Radesky. "Kids require a lot of different types of thinking, so multitasking between them and technology can be emotionally and mentally draining. As clinicians, we have an opportunity to start conversations with parents and help them manage this conflict with ideas on how to unplug and set boundaries."

With these results, physicians compiled the following recommendations to combat the negatives of using mobile devices around children:

• Set boundaries: Using mobile devices should not be the priority around important times when children are most in need.
• Track your mobile use: Limiting time spent on a mobile device while you are at home encourages family attentive behavior and rules out the temptation of the device.
• Identify top device stressors: Make note of stressful events when using your mobile device, like checking work email, and only use the device for these stressful tasks when children are otherwise occupied.