Digital Media and Developing Minds International Scientific Congress<\/a> in Washington, DC.\n <\/p>\n\n While past research has focused on how kids are affected when parents or guardians are on their screens, this study looked at the impact of cell phone use on parent-child interactions even when parents were offline, said Liz Robinson, a doctoral student at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and lead author of the study.\n <\/p>\n
\n Mothers who used social media extensively spoke 29% less to their kids while playing with them \u2014 without their phones \u2014 compared with the moms whose social media use was low. Moms in the low-use category used social media an average of 21 minutes per day, while moms in the high-use category used social media an average of 169 minutes per day.\n <\/p>\n
\n Other uses of screens, including checking email or the weather, weren\u2019t associated with talking less to kids, according to the study of 65 toddlers ages 2 through 5 years old and their mothers in Alabama.\n <\/p>\n
\n Although Robinson\u2019s research has not yet been peer-reviewed or published in a journal, it doesn\u2019t surprise me. In my own research, people often say they still think about what they see on social media long after they log off. Although the moms in this study were physically present with their kids, it\u2019s possible their minds were elsewhere.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cOften our minds wander to activities that are more pleasurable naturally, and we know social media is that experience for most people,\u201d said Kris Perry, executive director of Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development, a nonprofit to help kids lead healthy digital lives and the organizer of the Congress.\n <\/p>\n
\n Perry, who was not involved in the research, pointed out that social networks show us tailored content that is intensely interesting to us, so \u201cit makes you want to experience it longer.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Whatever the reason, kids need their parents to be mentally present when they play. Thankfully, there are things we can do to make sure our social media use doesn\u2019t interfere with our parenting.\n <\/p>\n
\n One of the most important things parents can do is to talk to their children all the time.\n <\/p>\n
\n Learning language is \u201ca major feature of optimal child development\u201d and it\u2019s \u201cdependent on children expressing and receiving language from birth through (age) 18,\u201d Perry said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Greater exposure to language tends to improve kids\u2019 brain development, academic outcomes, communication skills and language, she said.\n <\/p>\n
\n The interactions parents and kids have when they play are also important to children\u2019s socioemotional development, Robinson said, to help them develop their executive functions and attention spans and learn how to regulate their emotions.\n <\/p>\n
\n Interacting with adults is also one of the ways children learn what to prioritize. \u201cKids are acutely aware of where a parent is looking,\u201d Robinson said, \u201cand they learn what\u2019s important. So, when our gaze is constantly going towards a device, towards a smartphone, well, we\u2019re communicating to our children what\u2019s important in that moment, too.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n That\u2019s why parents should make a conscious effort to be mentally present when interacting with their kids. \u201cOur attention is one of the best things that we can give to our children,\u201d Robinson said, noting that this conveys to them that we love them.\n <\/p>\n
\n Robinson recommended that parents set aside certain times of the day to give their kids undivided attention. That\u2019s advice I also give when I speak to parent groups and at schools about how to handle kids\u2019 social media use.\n <\/p>\n
\n Of course, finding this time isn\u2019t easy. \u201cNone of us can give our kids undivided attention all the time, but it can be helpful to think on a smaller scale,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cThough I have many things to tend to today, I can give my child undivided attention for the next 15 minutes. That focused time goes a long way from the child\u2019s perspective.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n When we\u2019re with our kids, we can remind ourselves \u201cthere is nowhere but here, and there is no time but now in your child\u2019s mind,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cAnd so, you have many other thoughts and many other priorities that are floating around in your head. But we can compartmentalize those and be fully present with our child, who knows only this moment, and only our attention.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Parents should also pay attention to how their social media use is affecting them and their children, Perry said. \u201cUnderstand what the impact of using social media is on you personally, and make sure that you\u2019re mitigating what those impacts are when you go to interact with your child.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n A simple way to do that? Limit the number of times you check it per week and how long you spend on it each time.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cReduce the amount of time you\u2019re on social media to prevent the likelihood that you would even inadvertently speak less\u201d to your child, Perry said. And, of course, using social media less could also free up more time for parents to spend playing with their kids.\n <\/p>\n
\n Robinson said the biggest limitation of the research is that it\u2019s correlational \u2014 the authors couldn\u2019t establish whether social media was making parents more passive or whether more passive parents were using social media more. In addition, the study couldn\u2019t account for factors such as parents\u2019 mental health, income and education.\n <\/p>\n
\n I\u2019d also love to see this study replicated with fathers, who should also be taking responsibility for playing with their kids and using social media responsibly.\n <\/p>\n
\n Still, the study suggests using social media more could reduce our conversations with our children, and that got me thinking. Next time I play with my daughters, I\u2019ll be checking in with myself on whether I\u2019m talking to them or my thoughts are elsewhere.\n <\/p>\n
\n I\u2019ll also be more conscious of how much the content I\u2019m seeing on social media is continuing to play out in my head even after I\u2019m done scrolling. I might even talk to my kids about the changes I make as a result.\n <\/p>\n
\n Get inspired by a weekly roundup on living well, made simple. Sign up for CNN\u2019s Life, But Better newsletter<\/a> for information and tools designed to improve your well-being.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Facebook Tweet Email Link EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:\u00a0 Kara Alaimo is an associate professor of communication at Fairleigh Dickinson University.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":63115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[611,158,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-63114","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-mobile","9":"tag-technology","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114847859515058498","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}