Parental Cell Phone Use Affects Parents' and Children's Question-Asking

What is it about?

Parental cell phone use is common today, but is a cell phone any more harmful to parent-child conversations than other distractions? In this study, we tested whether filling out a survey on a cell phone led parents and children to ask each other fewer questions than filling out the same survey on paper, or remaining undistracted. The results showed that children asked more questions when their parents were not distracted than when they used cell phones. Parents asked more questions when they used paper than when they used a cell phone, and even more when they were undistracted. Although parents face many distractions, cell phones may be especially disruptive to parent-child conversations.

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Why is it important?

Cell phone use is becoming increasingly common. Though parents may be informed on screen time recommendations for their children, it may be less obvious that parents should also monitor their own screen media use around their children. This study suggests parental cell phone use, at least in some situations, may be more harmful to parent-child interactions than other distractions, such as filling out a paper survey.