This, of course, isn’t limited to smartphones. Still, if being nonresponsive happens over longer periods, “it can have a detrimental impact on the baby’s development.” 3 Mary Gregory concluded that having a nonresponsive parent “in short doses” is okay. This isn’t to suggest you can never look at your phone or be temporarily distracted when you’re a parent.Īn analysis of the still-face experiment by Dr. I would argue that most of us are guilty of focusing more on the latest text or push alerts than what our child does, even for a minute. While this may be a dramatic example from 50-plus years ago, it’s easy to draw parallels with common problems we see with parenting today. 1,2 Parallels with Today’s Parents and Their Phones After the two minutes is over, the parent returns to normal interactions with the baby, who is visibly happy to see emotions and responses again. Pointing, laughing, crying, and having tantrums. The parent then shows a still face with no emotion for two minutes.Ĭountless examples show the baby trying to get the parent to react and respond by any means. Ed Tronick developed the “still face experiment.” It involves a parent face-to-face with their baby while playing, smiling, and talking. In the 1970s, long before the first “smartphone” was invented, Dr. It’s been researched and discussed for generations. But while these are easy dots to connect, distracted parenting isn’t new. It’s easy to point to our smartphones as the reason our society struggles to be present. It doesn’t seem like a big deal to tune out your toddler for 10 seconds, but studies suggest too much parent phone time could have long-term consequences on children. But, if I’m being honest, I’m not responding right away because I’m focused on whether my phone pinged and if I should check to make sure. In this moment of distraction, my 2-year-old daughter, Adley, is trying to get my attention. Either way, I better check to see if I missed an important text message. Is that my phone? Is that the phone of the mother of two I’m talking to at the park? Maybe I’m just hearing things. But the parents I interact with always seem to have their hearts in the right place, despite their phone time. Sure, I know they exist I watch the news. In my three years as a parent, I’ve never met another mom or dad who didn’t seem to have their child’s best interests in mind.
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