Parents' attachment to phone screens can cause anxiety in children, study says

There's a word for when people ignore what's around them to look at their phones: phubbing. New research shows that when parents do this around their children, it can have bad effects over time.

A recent study, titled 'Mommy, do you love your phone more than me?', was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology. It found that when parents and caregivers spend too much time on screens, it can increase feelings of anxiety and insecurity in children and teenagers.

Researchers talked to 600 young people in the US, aged between 12 and 17. Many adolescents explained that when their parents focused on screens instead of talking to them, they felt unimportant, ignored, or like they had no value.

Smartphones have become very popular over the last 20 years, with almost all adults in the US now owning one. While studying the effects of smartphones is still a new area, many scientists agree that these devices can have negative impacts, especially on young people.

Many studies have already shown that teenagers can become addicted to their phones and social media apps like TikTok and Instagram. There are even lawsuits against social media companies claiming their apps are designed to be addictive and harm children.

However, less research has been done on how parents' own use of these devices affects their children. This new study adds to a few similar findings that suggest parents' phone use is harmful to kids.

For example, a 2023 study in China suggested that parents' focus on phones made children more likely to become addicted to screens. A 2024 study published in the Journal of Pediatrics found that when parents 'phubbed', their relationships with their children became more distant, and the children were more likely to be unhappy and have tantrums.

Don Grant, the main author of the new study, explained that a parent's phone use can lead to a child feeling insecurely attached. This, he said, can result in lower self-esteem and a lack of confidence. He added that it could negatively affect their sense of security in relationships, which they might carry throughout their lives.

The study authors admit that not all children whose parents use phones a lot will become anxious. They suggest the research mainly aims to show how adolescents feel when their parents' attention is on devices.