The Dangers of Distracted Parenting

The Dangers(ˈdānjər) of Distracted(disˈtraktəd) Parenting(ˈpar-,ˈpe(ə)rənt)

When it comes to children’s development, parents should worry less about kids’ screen time—and more about their own.

By Erika Christakis

Smartphones have by now been implicated(ˈimpliˌkāt) in so many crummy(ˈkrəmē) outcomes—car fatalities(fāˈtalətē,fə-), sleep disturbances(disˈtərbəns), empathy(ˈempəTHē) loss(läs,lôs), relationship problems, failure(ˈfālyər) to notice(ˈnōtis) a clown(kloun) on a unicycle(ˈyo͞onəˌsīkəl)—that it almost seems easier to list the things they don’t mess up than the things they do. Our society(səˈsīətē) may be reaching peak criticism(ˈkritəˌsizəm) of digital(ˈdijitl) devices.

Even so, emerging(iˈmərj) research suggests that a key problem remains underappreciated(ˌəndərəˈprēSHiāt). It involves kids’ development, but it’s probably not what you think. More than screen-obsessed(əbˈses) young children, we should be concerned(kənˈsərnd) about tuned-out parents.

Yes, parents now have more face time with their children than did almost any parents in history. Despite a dramatic(drəˈmatik) increase in the percentage(pərˈsentij) of women in the workforce, mothers today astoundingly(əˈstoundiNG) spend more time caring(ˈke(ə)riNG) for their children than mothers did in the 1960s. But the engagement(enˈgājmənt) between parent and child is increasingly low-quality(ˈkwälətē), even ersatz(-ˌzäts,erˈzäts,ˈerˌsäts). Parents are constantly(ˈkänstəntlē) present(priˈzent,ˈprezənt) in their children’s lives physically, but they are less emotionally(iˈmōSHənəl) attuned(əˈt(y)o͞on). To be clear, I’m not unsympathetic(ˌənˌsimpəˈTHetik) to parents in this predicament(priˈdikəmənt). My own adult children like to joke that they wouldn’t have survived(sərˈvīv) infancy(ˈinfənsē) if I’d had a smartphone in my clutches(kləCH
) 25 years ago.

To argue(ˈärgyo͞o) that parents’ use of screens is an underappreciated problem isn’t to discount the direct(diˈrekt,dī-) risks screens pose to children: Substantial(səbˈstanCHəl) evidence suggests that many types of screen time (especially those involving fast-paced or violent(ˈvī(ə)lənt) imagery(ˈimij(ə)rē)) are damaging(ˈdamijiNG) to young brains(brān). Today’s preschoolers spend more than four hours a day facing a screen. And, since 1970, the average(ˈav(ə)rij) age of onset of “regular” screen use has gone from 4 years to just four months.

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https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/07/the-dangers-of-distracted-parenting/561752/