Children of phone-distracted parents feel unimportant

A new study hopes to shed more light on the dangers of being distracted by cellphones as a parent. According to their findings, about one-third of kids feel unimportant when they see their moms and dads constantly distracted by their phones.

They feel deprived of attention when they see their parents glued to their phones during meal times, watching TV, or while having conversations with them.

Previous studies have also found that the kids of cellphone-distracted parents are more prone to accidents and injuries while playing outside.

Children surveyed feel like they have to fight with technology to get their parent’s attention

photo: pixabay

The study was conducted by AVG Technologies gathered data from 6,000 children aged 8 to 13 across different countries, namely Australia, Brazil, Canada,The Czech Republic, Germany, France, The United Kingdom, and the United States.

Based on survey data, they found that 32 percent of children felt like they have to fight with technology for their parent’s attention. About 28 percent of parents agreed that phone-distracted parenting is increasingly becoming a problem.

54 percent of kids surveyed agreed that their parents spend too much time on their cellphones, while 52 percent of parents admitted that they do fear their excessive cellphone use is setting a bad example for their children.

It might be a struggle for you to put your phone away because it’s how they keep in touch with work and family. But knowing how it could possibly negatively impact your child’s socioemotional development is certainly reason enough to start limiting your phone use.

Keep your phone from taking over your time with your kids by sticking to a schedule for checking email or Facebook. Switch off notifications if needed. There are a lot of ways to manage your smartphone. The latest trending articles or funny status can wait.

source: Time.com

READ: How to ‘unplug’ your kids from their gadgets