Cellphones stress parents as much as kids, study finds: ‘Constant connectivity comes at a cost’

Parents are just as stressed as children because they are often absorbed and distracted by their constantly ringing cell phones, a University of Michigan Medicine study has found.

Busy working parents find that there are many conveniences to their mobile devices – but that the daily digital notifications from their screens also cause anxiety, according to research.

The study results come as many school districts are pushing to ban students from accessing their cell phones during the school day.

Parents received an average of almost 300 mobile notifications each day between 2020-2021, the study found.

Those parents who participated in the study answered their phones an average of 93 times a day.

“We know that parents of young children often multitask,” said lead author Tiffany Munzer, a developmental behavioral pediatrician at the university’s Mott Health Children’s Hospital. “Interruptions from screens have added an extra layer to the challenge of trying to respond to multiple requests at the same time.

“Parents are often juggling parenting and home life with work and other responsibilities simultaneously. It makes sense that feeling withdrawn from phones can bring additional stress,” Munzer said.

The study included 62 parents of 62 children ages 4 to 6 and was conducted during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The average age of the parents was 37 years.

The research found that parents experienced more notifications and phone calls than in previous studies, which the researchers believe was due to greater media use during the pandemic and the need to potentially monitor related news.

Stress was higher on weekdays, suggesting that the content of the announcements may have also fueled parents’ stress, said senior author Jenny Radesky, also a behavioral developmental pediatrician.

“This may have been especially true in the context of multitasking between work and home or online school requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.

“However, these findings give us a glimpse into how distractions from phone demands can affect everyday parenting stress.”

Stress is the price parents pay for having a high-tech smartphone that connects them to almost anything at any time, researchers said.

“We’ve all experienced that premature ping on our phone. Sometimes it’s just an annoyance, but it can also be the crucial message we’ve been waiting for, even if it wakes us up or breaks our focus,” said Dr. Marschall Runge, CEO of Michigan Medicine and executive vice president of medical affairs. at the university.

“In today’s always-connected world, there is an expectation to be accessible 24/7, but this constant connection comes at a cost: distraction, stress and even depression,” Runge said.

But the doctor said the opposite could be worse – people worry about losing access to their phone.

“For many people, not having access to their phone is even more stressful, a condition known as nomophobia,” he said.