Digital Family Life: A Systematic Review of the Impact of Parental Smartphone Use on Parent-Child Interactions

Abstract

Smartphone use among parents is rising sharply, as they seek connectedness with partners, friends and work during the sometimes detached times of parenthood. Since parents increasingly use smartphones while interacting with their children, there is growing research about the implications of parental smartphone for parent-child interactions. However, previous reviews have not examined whether the effects of parental smartphone use on parent-child interactions vary depending on children’s age. Additionally, no systematic review has summarized the potential benefits of parents’ smartphone use for parent-child interactions. Therefore, the goals of this systematic review were (1) to explore the role of children’s age in the link between parental smartphone use and parent-child interactions and (2) to summarize potential benefits of parental smartphone use for parent-child interactions. Following PRISMA guidelines, a total of k = 21 papers met all eligibility criteria and were included in this review. Results gest noteworthy effects of parental smartphone use on parent-child interactions across all age groups, but the foci and outcomes of the studies differed between them. Benefits were mostly perceived when people where relaxed and enjoying themselves, but only a few studies have focused on the potential positive impact of parental smartphone use on parent-child interactions. The review provides an overview about future areas of research to explore how smartphone changes family interactions. Families have to find adequate ways of dealing with new technology in everyday life, which inevitably affects the nature of their daily interactions.

Smartphones in the nursery: Parental smartphone use and parental sensitivity and responsiveness within parent–child interaction in early childhood (0–5 years): A scoping review

“…The research field considering the role of parental smartphone use within the family context is relatively new but has generated increasingly more research activity in the last few years. Two literature reviews (Kildare & Middlemiss, 2017; McDaniel, 2019) and two systematic reviews (Beamish, Fisher, & Rowe, 2019; Knitter & Zemp, 2020) have helped to consolidate the base of research know‐how on and knowledge about the meaning of parental smartphone use within the family system. However, these previous reviews provided a less specific perspective on the topic, focusing on parent–child interaction as well as child outcomes (Beamish et al., 2019; Kildare & Middlemiss, 2017; McDaniel, 2019), or including a broader age range.…”

Pengasuhan Digital Keluarga Nelayan terhadap Penggunaan Smartphone pada anak usia 3-7 tahun

“…Hal ini berasosiasi dengan temuan penelitian sebelumnya yang menunjukkan hasil bahwa penggunaan smartphone sedini ini memiliki potensi manfaat untuk mendukung pengasuhan (Mangan et al, 2018). Manfaat ini lebih banyak ditemukan pada pola permisif dan hanya sedikit pada pola otoritatif dan otoriter (Knitter & Zemp, 2020). Pendapat tersebut sejalan dengan hasil temuan pengasuhan keluarga nelayan yang lebih permisif terkait penggunaan smartphone pada anak-anak mereka.…”

Affective Scaffolding to Mediate the Use of Emergent Technology

“…Daily, we experience the baby intention to touch and desire the caregivers' phone (Knitter & Zemp, 2020). In the following, we report two micro -observations: in the first episode, the 1years old baby and his grandmother (GM) interact with a smartphone; in the second episode, the 1-years old baby interact with a robot-toy.…”