Phone use while parenting: An observational study to assess the association of maternal sensitivity and smartphone use in a playground setting

Abstract

Smartphone use has become an “always-on” activity. Caring for children and being sensitive to their needs seems to conflict with this immersive and time-consuming activity. Building on John Bowlby's Attachment Theory, we focused on how mothers' smartphone use is related to maternal sensitivity. Using the Mini-Maternal Behavior Q-Sort method and a post-observation questionnaire, we collected data from 89 mother-child dyads on playgrounds. Our results showed that mothers who used their smartphones longer had lower sensitivity ratings (β = −0.51, p < .001), whereas there was no association between low sensitivity ratings and the frequency of use. Our results suggest that it might be valuable to further study the influences of the content of use on sensitivity. The study's results demonstrate that smartphone use is related to the extent to which mothers are sensitive to their children's needs. However, smartphone use in itself is not necessarily in conflict with the ability to be sensitive. We discuss the boundary conditions of how using a smartphone for certain reasons and time-periods might be compatible with the ability to be a sensitive caregiver.