A new study has found that parents’ use of technology in front of their children is associated with poorer cognitive and social behaviour outcomes.
The study, released in May and published by public health researcher Marcelo Toledo-Vargas from the University of Wollongong has found a strong link between parental screen time and developmental problems for children, including low attention span, tantrums, and poor emotional regulation.
Clinical psychologist Ann Bailey said part of the problem comes from parents not realising how being distracted by technology causes children to feel neglected.
“Often the parent interprets escalating behaviour as being naughty, disobedient or antagonistic against the parent, and in fact what’s really going on most of the time is the child expressing a desire for attention,” Ms Bailey said.
“When the parent is overwhelmed they don’t have resources to attend to the child in the way they need to, and so they want to shut down the child because the tantrum is too much for them.
“It creates a really aversive cycle of attention seeking because even if the response from the parent is yelling at the child to calm down, for the child any attention is better than no attention.”
Lead researcher Mr Toledo-Vargas said in a UOW media release the aim of the study was not to shame parents for their technology usage, but inform them of the risks.
“Devices can play a valuable role in helping parents navigate the complexities of modern life, however when these devices interrupt parent-child interactions it can lead to unintentional consequences,” Mr Toledo-Vargas said.
“Kids might feel ignored or like they’re competing for their parents’ attention.
“This can disrupt the natural flow of interactions, which is particularly important as young children are acquiring critical social and language skills.”
The study also found 70 per cent of parents use their phones during playtime or mealtime, and 90 per cent of parents use their phone in front of their child at least once a day.
As a parent of a two-year-old toddler, Tegan Sturgiss said though she feels guilty for going on her phone, she still uses technology in front of her child throughout the day.
“There are definitely better ways to spend my time with my child than on my phone,” Ms Sturgiss said.
“I could be playing with him and reading books, but most of the time he doesn’t want to do that stuff, and it’s hard to find the energy.”
Parent of two Ryan Cole said he would also rather be spending quality time with his primary-school-aged girls.
“I spend time on my phone, especially social media, which I’m really working on at the moment,” Mr Cole said.