If parents want to keep their kids from spending too much time in front of screens, they might want to look at their own habits. A new study published by Pediatric Research found the more time parents spend on cellphones or other screens around their kids, the more time kids tend to spend on them too.
For the study, researchers looked at the screen habits of more than 10,000 individuals aged 12 to 13 years old.
According to the study, 35% reported screen use during mealtimes and 46% said they had access to screens in their bedrooms. However, 67% said their parents monitored their screen time during the week. Another 72% said their parents also limited their time.
Researchers looked at how often the child’s parents engaged in tech-based activities. The study found parent screen use, family mealtime screen use and bedroom screen use were associated with more adolescent screen time. Research also showed those three scenarios could also lead to problematic social media, video game and mobile phone use.
Researchers characterized problematic screen use by “addiction-like traits such as tolerance (e.g., feeling the need to use more and more), relapse (e.g., trying to reduce use but unable to), mood modification (e.g., use to forget about problems), salience (e.g., spending a lot of time thinking about use), and conflict (e.g., use has had a bad effect on schoolwork or job), which may disrupt daily functioning.”
Another thing parents might want to stop doing is using screen time as a punishment or reward. The study found doing so was associated with higher screen time and greater problematic video game use, as well.
Researchers said the best thing parents can do to keep their kids off screens is monitor their usage and follow their own rules.