Over Half of Parents Want to Reduce Their Phone Use

A child is calling from the top of a playground tower – “Mommy, look at me!” They call out, “Daddy, can you push me on the swing?” The parents don’t look up from their phones right away because they’re engrossed in a stock trade, a news story, or a Facebook comment. The child tries harder, louder, to get their attention — “Look at me! Push me!”

A teen who had a hard day plops on the couch. The parent is zoning out into their phone, not noticing that their teen is down, not noticing that they need a hug or a bit of positivity.

The average person spends 6 hours and 58 minutes per day on screens connected to the internet (Howarth, 2023). Dixon and colleagues (2023) define “technoference” as “habitual interferences and disruptions within interpersonal relationships or time spent together due to use of electronic devices.”

A huge number of parents report wanting to reduce “technoference” with parenting to be more present with their kids. A December, 2023 poll of parents’ New Year’s Resolutions found that more than half of parents reported wishing to spend less time on their phones (Michigan Medicine, 2023). Based on varied research, this goal can result in an array of positive outcomes.

Research has identified negative consequences of too much parental phone use in the presence of children, including:

• Decreased parental responsiveness – When parents were using their phones, the odds of them responding to a child were five times lower than when not using a phone (Vanden Abeele et al., 2020). Reactions were weaker and slightly delayed (Vanden Abeele et al., 2020).

• Parents were more likely to ignore children’s interactional initiatives (being less emotionally supportive) when using phones (Elias et al., 2020).

• Parents showed decreased overall parental sensitivity to kids under age 5 (while using phones) (Braune-Krickau et al., 2021)

• Kids had lower emotional intelligence - Children whose parents used their mobile devices more frequently in the presence of their child had lower emotional intelligence (EI) (Nabi & Wolfers, 2022).

• Kids were unhappier - Babies showed more negative affect and less positive affect when parents were using their phones (Myruski, 2021).

• Adolescents were more likely to have mental health issues (depression and anxiety) when parents and adolescents had “technoference” or disruptions in time spent together due to electronic devices (Dixon et al., 2023).

Phones, especially social media, optimize variable reward schedules to keep parents engaged by causing them to continuously check to see if they got a “reward” (e.g., Instagram likes, Facebook comments, etc.). These rewards result in tiny dopamine hits that keep them coming back for more (Haynes, 2018). Parents also have a lot to organize on phones, such as reading their kids’ school newsletters, buying birthday presents or clothes, or ordering staples for a busy household. They are likely crunched for time and trying to multi-task. Still, the effects of phone use on interfering with true, warm “parenting presence,” as well as the potential negative emotional outcomes for children seem to cause parents to intuitively want to cut back on their phone time.

Research points to a few ways to effectively decrease phone screen time:

• Spend time in nature - Research suggests that spending time in true nature (not just urban parks) is associated with reduced smartphone use. Nature may support digital impulse inhibition (Minor et al., 2023).

• Change phone to grayscale setting: One study showed that participants who had their phones in grayscale had a significant decrease in problematic smartphone use, anxiety, and screentime, likely due to making the phone “less gratifying” (Holte et al., 2021).

• Batch notifications - A study found that, compared to those in the control conditions, participants whose notifications were batched to 3 times a day felt more attentive, productive, in a better mood, and in greater control of their phones. They also reported lower stress and fewer phone interruptions (Fitz et al., 2019).

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• Establish tech-free zones – The Mayo Clinic recommends establishing tech-free zones such as mealtimes or one night per week. Another strategy is to limit phones for an hour in the morning or an hour before bedtime (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2022).

Cutting back on phone use may not only improve parenting, it may help parents feel better, too. Research suggests that the less time people spend on phones, the more they feel better with issues related to eye strain, neck pain, back pain, weight gain, depression, and loneliness (Daniyal et al., 2022).