Parent Mobile Phone Use in Playgrounds: A Paradox of Convenience.

Keira Bury,Justine E Leavy,Jonine Jancey

doi:10.3390/children7120284

Abstract

Creating social and physical environments that promote good health is a key component of a social determinants approach. For the parents of young children, a smartphone offers opportunities for social networking, photography and multi-tasking. Understanding the relationship between supervision, mobile phone use and injury in the playground setting is essential. This research explored parent mobile device use (MDU), parent–child interaction in the playground, parent attitudes and perceptions towards MDU and strategies used to limit MDU in the playground. A mixed-methods approach collected naturalistic observations of parents of children aged 0–5 (n = 85) and intercept interviews (n = 20) at four metropolitan playgrounds in Perth, Western Australia. Most frequently observed MDU was scrolling (75.5%) and telephone calls (13.9%). Increased duration of MDU resulted in a reduction in supervision, parent–child play and increased child injury potential. The camera function offered the most benefits. Strategies to prevent MDU included turning to silent mode, wearing a watch and environmental cues. MDU was found to contribute to reduced supervision of children, which is a risk factor for injury. This is an emerging area of injury prevention indicating a need for broader strategies addressing the complex interplay between the social determinants and the developmental younger years.

Highlights

For the parents of young children, a mobile device, such as a smartphone, offers opportunities for communication, social networking, photography, personal organisation, work flexibility and multi-tasking [1,2,3,4]
This study found that the tasks undertaken on the mobile device influenced supervision and the opportunity for the social interplay between parents and their children
The majority of caregivers reported that whilst mobile device use (MDU) was convenient for communication, personal organisation and security, it was an unwanted distraction in the playground, where supervising and interacting with children should be the priority

Summary

Introduction

For the parents of young children, a mobile device, such as a smartphone, offers opportunities for communication, social networking, photography, personal organisation, work flexibility and multi-tasking [1,2,3,4]. It can be a source of distraction that brings about feelings of guilt and concern for poor role modelling of mobile device use (MDU) for young children during their early development [1,4,5,6,7,8]. The social environment includes interactions with family and parent–child play encompasses social relationships in physical settings such as playgrounds [12,14,15]

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion