Like many parents these days, you’ve probably felt the frustration and guilt of focusing on the small screen in your hand while the commotion of your children is taking place all around you. Maybe they want something to eat, or they’re trying to explain what happened in school that day. Your responses are half there because you’re only half listening. Your attempts to communicate fall flat and your children know it.
Regardless, you can’t pull your eyes away from your smartphone. There’s an important text or email from a client or a direct message from a follower on Twitter that you have to respond to. Social Media urges you to check your status several times a day, especially after you’ve posted something new, and the notification of new meditations on Headspace is too enticing to pass up. God knows you could use some stress reduction right about now.
Meanwhile, your children get impatient and start creating havoc as they become increasingly aware that you don’t seem to notice or care. Even when things start getting out of hand, it’s still tough to put your device down and pay attention to what’s going on in your actual environment.
Your kids are observing a pattern of behavior and adapting accordingly. Some of those adaptations are not positive ones. Child psychologists are becoming increasingly concerned about the negative consequences of rapt attention to our technological devices rather than to the vulnerable little ones sharing time and space with us in the real
world.
The average American picks up their phone every 12 minutes, some as often as every four minutes. Fifty percent admitted they interrupted face-to-face conversations with friends and family and 43 percent admitted spending too much time online. More than a third felt stressed and “cut off” without their cellphone, treasuring it more than any other device.
This is no accident. All the bells, whistles and apps are designed to attract and engage you and keep your attention captivated.
Unfortunately, every time you become mesmerized by the digital marvels of technology you’re taking time away from genuine interaction with those closest to you, especially your children.
Here are 10 reasons why you need to break the smartphone habit for the sake of your kids:
