Does Mom Love Her Phone More Than Me? How Tech Affects Attachment
Study: "Mommy, do you love your phone more than me?"
I investigated how adolescents perceive their caregivers' device use and its impact on our attachment bond. Validating the Device Attachment Interference Scale with 600 U.S. teens, I found that higher perceptions of parental distraction correlate strongly with insecure attachment. These results suggest that when parents are mentally absent due to screens, it fundamentally alters how children feel valued and connected.
Parental phubbing is a new form of social neglect during parent-child interactions, resulting in adolescents who feel rejected by parents and alienated from peers.
- Wolfenstein98k
I would expect anxious/insecure parents to use placating behaviours (like device use) themselves, and I would expect their children to be anxious/insecure too.
So I would expect the study to find that the children of phone-overusers were more likely to be anxious/insecure.
Still, I would also expect that less phone use (subbed with more attention to kid) would help the kid with this.
- JauntyHatAngle
I find these studies specifically frustrating because they don't answer the most interesting question - is it damaging if your caregiver uses phone a lot but remains responsive.
This study specifically excludes it, and fair enough when being honest about the statistical inference and not overreaching, but that is the question I find most interesting as someone who uses my phone to get away from my desk but keep work going so I can spend time with my kids while doing my job.
One outcome would be this is damaging and worse than just not spending time until after work, the other result would say this is a beneficial arrangement.
- jb1991
I would love to get rid of my smartphone altogether, actually. I’m just not quite sure how to do it. I need to use a map app often. And most of the announcements and services in my country from companies and schools are all handled through WhatsApp. So it makes it a bit difficult to cut that tether.
- olafmol
Now it's smartphones and devices, but in the past it was work. Personally I think these days kids get a lot more attention from their parents than anytime in the past. Even so much that it can be irritating/damaging (parents being "friends/playmates" instead of parents).
- kqr
This can be tricky. I know my mother loves me unconditionally, but I also have strong memories of her shutting herself inside her study to read textbooks and journals, and children were not allowed to disturb unless she was strictly needed to handle an accident.
I have the same need for cognition as my mother, but I opt not to lock myself in my office. Instead I tell my kids, "I'm around if you need me and I'll keep an eye on you but I'm not currently a playmate; I'll be here reading on my phone."
The difference is my mother clearly separated relationship-building from study. I don't. This probably means I'm available more often, but with lower quality? I'm not sure. What is better? No idea.
- marcus_holmes
We should propose a ban on parental social media accounts in Australia, since it's proven to do harm to children.
- emil-lp
A heads-up: Frontiers In is a publisher known to have extremely low quality.
- whatever1
Yes son. Go back to your iPad.