ReviewImpact of parents mobile device use on parent-child interaction: A literature review
Introduction
Mobile devices, like smartphones, cellphones and tablets have become an integral part of our everyday lives. While ownership rates of technological devices such as desktops, e-book readers, MP3 players and gaming consoles have decreased in ownership, mobile device ownership continues to increase among American adults (Anderson, 2015). Adoption of mobile devices has steadily increased since ownership of each device type was first tracked. Based on available reports, currently, 95% of American adults own a cellphone, up from 53% in 2000; 77% own a smartphone, up from 35% in 2011, and 51% own a tablet, up from 3% in 2010 (Anderson, 2015, Smith, 2017).
Smartphones and tablets differ from cellphones in that they combine the capabilities of a traditional cellphone with a portable personal computer and Internet accessibility (Ames, 2013). Growth in ownership over the last five years has contributed to “smartphone only” adults (13% in 2015) who own a smartphone but have no other resource for an Internet connection in their home (Horrigan & Duggan, 2015). Having an Internet connection via a smartphone or tablet allows owners to continually engage with their device and be perpetually available through their device (Hertlein, 2012, Oulasvirta et al., 2012).
Through this persistent connection and perceived availability, mobile devices provide endless opportunities for distractions (Harmon and Mazmanian, 2013, McDaniel and Coyne, 2016, Oulasvirta et al., 2012). According to the displacement hypothesis (Coyne, Padilla-Walker, Fraser, Fellows, & Day, 2014), time spent with technology or media may displace and decrease meaningful parent-child connections. A primary area of concern regarding parental screen distractions is what effect these displaced parent-child interactions could have on child development (Anderson & Hanson, 2017).
It has been well-established that parenting behavior and the quality of parent-child interactions critically shapes child development (Fay-Stammbach et al., 2014, Zimmer-Gembeck et al., 2017). Parent-child interactions marked by high parental sensitivity and responsiveness contribute to the likelihood of an infant identifying their caregiver as a secure base and aids in the development of secure attachment styles and later optimal developmental trajectories (Ainsworth, 1979, Lyons-Ruth, 1996). Although several studies in the review identify device use as potentially indirectly compromising the development of a secure attachment relationship and child development (Ante-Contreras, 2016, Blackman, 2015, Kushlev, 2015, Radesky and Christakis, 2016, Radesky et al., 2014b, Stupica, 2016) longitudinal research has yet to explore and verify these concerns.
Although little research has investigated the role of parent's mobile device distractions on child development and parent-child interactions, insight can be gleaned from research on children's screen time and television use. Prior work suggests that children's television use reflects their parent's use (Jago et al., 2012, Lauricella et al., 2015, Xu et al., 2015), and that children's television use disrupts and displaces parent-child interactions (Kirkorian, Pempek, Murphy, Schmidt, & Anderson, 2009). Some parents are less responsive to their children when the television is on in the background and that the noise of background television can be a barrier to parent-child communication (Napier, 2014) resulting in fewer spoken words between parents and children, and poorer language development (Anderson & Hanson, 2017). However, when parents co-view television with their children, parent-child interaction can increase and have a positive impact on children's social development (Connell et al., 2015, Demers et al., 2013). Similar relationships, like those found between screen time, child development and parent-child interaction may also exist with mobile devices, but for a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between mobile device distractions and parent-child interactions, future study is essential.
Currently, much of the research on mobile distractions focuses on distracted driving and motor vehicle accidents (Benden, Smith, Henry, & Congleton, 2012), as well as perceptions of device use during face-to-face social interactions (McDaniel and Coyne, 2016, Przybylski and Weinstein, 2013). However, a growing body of research has begun exploring parents' mobile device use as a possible disruptor to parent-child interactions. The occurrence and concern of parents plugging into their devices instead of attending to their children has received a great deal of media attention (AVG Technologies, 2016, Filucci, 2013, Hetter, 2011, Highlights Magazine, 2014, Parents on phones, 2016, Scelfo, 2012, Winters, 2011). This concern for parents' technological distractions has begun to be addressed empirically as well. To further our understanding of how increased access to mobile devices could affect the parent-child relationship this systematic review will examine empirical research on parents mobile device use as related to parent-child interactions and the implications for parent-child relationships. This review will add to current understandings based on previous reviews related to technology and families, which have focused on how parents use the Internet (Dworkin, Connell, & Doty, 2013) and how families use older technology and the Internet before the ubiquitous use of smartphones and tablets (Hughes & Hans, 2001).
To better understand the relationship between parent-child interactions and parents' mobile device distractions, this review attempts to answer the following questions:
RQ1: How are parents using their mobile devices around their children?
RQ2: How do parents feel about their mobile device use during parent-child interactions?
RQ3: How do children respond to parents mobile device use during parent-child interactions?
RQ4: How do parents' mobile device distractions during parent-child interactions affect the parent-child relationship?
Section snippets
Methods
To guarantee a comprehensive search of articles on this complex topic, a combination of parent, child, mobile device, and interaction search terms were used (Table 1).
A search for articles in English, published between January 2000 and December 2016 was conducted using both academic databases (Academic Search Complete, ProQuest, Science Direct, and Web of Science) and broad search engines (Google Scholar and Google). Due to the novelty of this topic and the comprehensive nature of the
How are parents using their mobile devices around their children?
Although accurate data on parents device ownership is limited, it is known that households with children are more likely to own and use technology (Allen and Rainie, 2002, Hughes and Hans, 2001, Smith, 2012) and have multiple mobile devices compared to households without children (Wellman, Smith, Wells, & Kennedy, 2008). Additionally, parents are more likely than non-parents to download mobile applications (apps), 48%–33% (Lenhart, 2012). Many of these parents, 57%, download apps for their
Conclusions
Several common themes emerged from this review, including parent's level of absorption with their mobile devices, child safety in the presence of parents' mobile distractions and parents conflicted attitudes regarding device use and decreased parental responsiveness and sensitivity towards children while distracted. Although non-empirical work also supports these trends (AVG Technologies, 2016, Qualcomm, 2013, Steiner-Adair and Barker, 2014, Turkle, 2011), empirical results demonstrate a broad
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