A lot of research has been done into the harmful impact that smartphones can have if used by teenagers. In spite of the fact that this is the case, it appears that negativity can come about even if parents are the ones doing the scrolling. A study that was recently published in Frontiers in Psychology revealed that parental phubbing, which refers to when parents ignore their children to use their phones, can lead to smartphone addiction among adolescents.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that this study sourced its data from around 1,200 Chinese adolescents who are currently in junior high. A higher rate of parental phubbing was found to directly coincide with higher rates of smartphone addiction. Adolescence can be a challenging time because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up putting strain on relationships, and many teenagers are turning to smartphones in order to get over their loneliness.
A low level of cohesion between children and parents coupled with a general lack of friendships in a child’s social life are proven to be detrimental in this regard. This can also lead to a cascading effect that can make the addiction harder to overcome than might have been the case otherwise.
Children that turn to smartphones and social media due to loneliness might get sucked into an addictive user interface that preys on their developing minds. This study has revealed that parents should not place the blame squarely on children for their smartphone usage, but should rather look inwards to see if they might be contributing to the problem at hand.
One thing that might make this study less reliable is its use of self reported data. However, it does seem to point to a glaring issue that does not get talked about often enough whenever teenage smartphone addiction is being discussed. More research will be needed to get to the bottom of this data, after which even more patterns might start to emerge.
Read next: Survey Finds Majority of Parents Concerned About Negative Impact of Social Media Image Editing Apps and Filters on Children’s Body Image
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that this study sourced its data from around 1,200 Chinese adolescents who are currently in junior high. A higher rate of parental phubbing was found to directly coincide with higher rates of smartphone addiction. Adolescence can be a challenging time because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up putting strain on relationships, and many teenagers are turning to smartphones in order to get over their loneliness.
A low level of cohesion between children and parents coupled with a general lack of friendships in a child’s social life are proven to be detrimental in this regard. This can also lead to a cascading effect that can make the addiction harder to overcome than might have been the case otherwise.
Children that turn to smartphones and social media due to loneliness might get sucked into an addictive user interface that preys on their developing minds. This study has revealed that parents should not place the blame squarely on children for their smartphone usage, but should rather look inwards to see if they might be contributing to the problem at hand.
One thing that might make this study less reliable is its use of self reported data. However, it does seem to point to a glaring issue that does not get talked about often enough whenever teenage smartphone addiction is being discussed. More research will be needed to get to the bottom of this data, after which even more patterns might start to emerge.
Read next: Survey Finds Majority of Parents Concerned About Negative Impact of Social Media Image Editing Apps and Filters on Children’s Body Image
