Please, please, please put away your phones...

According to background data from the study, one recent study found that parents of infants now spend an average of more than five hours on their smartphones daily, including looking at a smartphone 27% of the time they are engaging with their baby.
Another study found 68% of parents admitting they are often distracted by their smartphones as they interact with their kids.
Research has shown that this kind of
"technoference" while parenting means less attention paid to children, less parent-child conversation and play and even a higher risk for child injuries.
During adolescence, technoference is linked to "higher levels of parent-child conflict and lower levels of parental emotional support and warmth," Madigan's team noted.

It saddens me when children come out of school and the parent collecting them barely acknowledges them as they're too busy on their phone.

You cannot be serious 😬

You have no idea tha context of what you saw. That's a few mins out of someone's life. Maybe they had got stuck somewhere and ended up travelling back late with their toddler.. exhausted and scrolling thru their phones to pass the time.
People can't stare doe eyed at their kids 24hrs a day. Ridiculous.
If you actually knew these people and saw that they were constantly on their phones then this is a fair enough statement.
But basically you've just looked at a couple of strangers and judged them so much based on very little info, that you've decided to make a social media post about it!
Personally I think this kind of mum shaming is even worse than parents being on their phones.
It's toxic.

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2024-08-16/parents-excessive-smartphone-use-could-harm-childrens-mental-health

If anyone wants to reduce their phone use, I found the book "How to break up with your phone" really helpful (and funny!).

Gosh, how old are your children? At best it’s emotional neglect and at worse the children could be at serious risk. I’m sorry he isn’t taking it seriously.

What you didn’t see OP is that their parent had been up all night pulling people from burning buildings and then volunteering in a homeless shelter, the child is actually a child genius thanking you very much who is working at 5 levels above their age and this was just 1 minute of their day how DARE you judge them

My husband is terrible with this. He is on his phone constantly and often fails to acknowledge the children when they talk to him. Or me for that matter. I’ve tried telling him but the problem with addicts is they deflect the accusation.

Someone will be along in a minute to point out that they might've been up all night studying the complete works of Shakespeare in 9 different languages, and their screen time was just a small break from that

Does nobody think like what the hell jobs these iPad kids are gonna do? What is their future? It is absolutely terrifying. My child won’t be having a phone until they turn 16. They are primary school age and have never been given my phone, we don’t have laptops or an iPad. It’s not a brag but it’s sensible.
i can’t believe people sit around at home on phones and iPads eating not saying a word it’s so fucked up :(

So read a book. Or just rest and don’t do anything. A phone further stimulates the brain.

I totally agree OP. This morning we were in a Premier Inn having breakfast and I watched a young girl (around age 7) plug her iPad into the socket in the restaurant and eat her entire meal glued to the screen in her pyjamas and dressing gown.. Her father was watching something on his phone, there was very little interaction between them. It’s very sad.

This week I watched a sweet baby girl try and get her mother’s attention for 20min on the train.
She made noises, she grabbed her hand. Nothing would stop this woman from staring at her phone.
What was so engrossing that the child eventually gave up and turned her head away?

Nail art on instagram.

And whilst we are at it
dont give your fucking toddler a phone or an iPad
get them looking out the bus window and interacting with the world and other people my gosh.

Yes I agree, I find phone usage sneaks up on me. If I do a tech detox I feel so much better. Need to do one again tbh it's creeping up. Like a PP said it is an addiction, there have been studies that have shown it stimulates the part of the brain that addictive substances do, the reward centre, releases dopamine. I think more will come out about the effects as they deepen studies in line with our digital world and the new tech on the horizon. We are in the infancy of research in this area at the moment.

Totally agree. I too have been saddened to witness young children being completely ignored in favour of smartphones 😞😖

Agree. Feel blessed that when mine were small I did not even have a smart phone. Yes there were periods of boredom but I was not distracted the way parents are now because there was not the technology.

People are so quick to blame COVID when their kids have problems with socialising etc.

But not quick enough to blame their own screen addictions.

Totally agree. Last week I witnessed a childminder at school on her phone that was oblivious to the fact her charge , a tiny baby was in the rain in its car seat while she was under a large porch on her phone. I hesitated but then had to speak to her and mention it. Poor baby was soaked

Completely agree too. It's awful to see.

Totally agree

society is so self absorbed, a lot of parents only want their children when it suits them. Instagram perfect photos etc. children need talking to, I spy games, talking about their day. Even when they can’t talk, take a cheap hot wheels car and wheel it across their pram, take a book and read it to them, narrate the journey “wow Timmy look the next stop is XXX that’s 4 stops from home - there goes the door beeps beep beep beep” etc etc

I broadly agree with you if that's the norm for that family. But equally, there have been days where I've spent 10 hours entirely focused on the DC on a day out, playing, chatting, exploring, and I don't begrudge myself 15 minutes of exhausted doom scrolling on the bus back home.
The Gottman Instutute has done some interesting work on "bids for connection" in relationships, and the detrimental effect it has if one party is consistently attempting to connect, and being rebuffed. But I think quantity is key - if a parent is responsive 90% of the time, I don't think it's the end of the world if the child learns they're not always the centre of their parents' universe.