Smartphones increase conflict, emotional distance between kids and parents, studies find

The use of smartphones and electronic media by young people correlates with greater family conflict and emotional instability, according to two studies from the University of Georgia.

“Our findings suggest that when kids get smartphones earlier, they may be less likely to disclose emotional problems to their parents. Smartphone ownership can therefore create gaps in parent and child communication,” said study supervisor Niyantri Ravindran, assistant professor of human development and family science at UGA.

It comes at a time when more than 6 in 10 parents say their children, ages 12 or younger, use a smartphone, according to a recent Pew Research study. That same study found 85% of parents report a child who “watches YouTube,” and 68% say their child uses a tablet. 

The research 

One of the UGA studies focused on electronic media use (EMU) and family conflict and the other on the negative impact of smartphones in parent-adolescent relationships. 

In the first study, researchers explained how increased screen-time reduces “face-to-face interactions,” which can lead to conflict. 

“Reduced opportunities for meaningful communication, shared activities, and emotional bonding can erode the sense of closeness that is essential for healthy family functioning,” the study found. “Consequently, this attenuation of family closeness can contribute to dynamics in which misunderstandings and tensions may thrive, exacerbating parent-child conflicts and straining familial relationships.” 

The study considered multiple types of media use, such as texting, gaming, watching TV and scrolling on social media. Researchers found social media is “linked to later family conflict,” especially for girls. 

“On average, kids are getting phones and using social media around 10 years old, which is super early, and even that age is going down,” the study’s lead author Cory Carvalho said. “As kids are becoming differentiated from their parents because of these profound neurological and biological emotional changes, we saw social media cause a variety of disagreements, trouble with resolution, fighting and expressions of anger.” 

The second study found adolescents with smartphones lacked emotional vulnerability with their parents.  

“Our results indicate that youth smartphone ownership may hinder parents’ ability to detect internalizing problems,” the study said. 

These adolescents can immediately turn to texting friends or social media for emotional reliance, rather than parents, the study suggests. And the earlier a child owns a smartphone, “the less aware a parent might be” of the child’s struggle with anxiety or depression at a crucial age. 

Adolescents who use smartphones also undergo neurobiological changes that lead to more risk-taking, more reliance on social affirmation, and a halt in prefrontal brain development – the regions that “support executive control and emotion regulation,” the study found.  

The conflict is compounded by parental smartphone use, which can lead to slower responsiveness and muted sensitivity, the study found.  

As adolescents confide less in parents and more in friends or social media – and as notifications continually interrupt face-to-face interactions – parent-adolescent distance grows and tension increases. 

“Furthermore, earlier smartphone ownership has been linked to greater aggressiveness and irritability, potentially making interactions more challenging and increasing friction in the relationship,” the study argues. 

Of adolescents in the study, those in the “no phone group” showed positive contrasts to their peers. Adolescents with no phones reported significantly less struggle with “internalizing problems,” and their parents’ evaluation of the child’s emotional well-being better matched the child’s own assessment. 

‘Technoferance’ 

Author Clare Morell, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, says researchers have given a name to the negative impact of technology on parent-child relationships: “technoference.” Technoference is “the phenomenon of digital technology interfering with parent-child relationships,” she writes.  

In an article in The Dispatch, she a common scene at any modern-day playground: parents sitting and staring at their phones are “oblivious to the noise, chaos, and needs of their children,” who “scream for attention.”  

Morell explained that parental distance not only frustrates children but also stalls their development, leading the children to be verbally and developmentally behind by school-age.  

“Studies suggest that technoference negatively affects a child’s language learning, social and emotional development, and behavioral and emotional regulation, increasing attention-seeking behaviors, emotional outbursts, and rates of anxiety and withdrawal,” she writes.  

In her new book, The Tech Exit, Morell argues for parents to “reject the premise of the inevitability of smartphones.” She encourages parents to work together in forming comrades of families who reject modern technology reliance and prioritize the social development of their children. 

In her Dispatch article, Morell suggests practical ways to conquer phone addiction through various restrictions that “dumb down” the phone. She tells parents to put the phone away, be present and play with their children. She goes so far as to recommend light phones, phone-free days, and using pen and paper to write lists. 

“Ultimately, by adopting practices to help us put our phones down, we model for our children what healthy technology use as an adult looks like – and open their eyes to the wonder of the world around them, away from screens,” she writes.