A lot has been said about limiting the usage of smartphones for children, but the same has not been applied to the parents. If it’s bad for the development of the children to be constantly on the phone, it’s equally bad for the connection between the parents and children when the parents are constantly found on the phone.

Pediatricians have always emphasized on the parents spending time getting to know their children to forge a strong familial bond with them. However Dr Jenny Radesky, a developmental behavioral pediatrician at the University of Michigan has dire findings based on a study conducted in the Ann Arbor region.

Dr Radesky has created a one page primer for parents on smartphone usage based on her research. Parents who are distracted by their mobile phones are less likely to have interactions with their children and more likely to have encounters that end in conflicts with them. Parents need to rethink their relationship with their phones if they want to have richer bonds with their children.

This scientific study has underscored the fact that meal times and interaction before bedtime need to be free of mobile phone interference in order for the children to actually feel that their parents are present with them.