Parents increasingly are scrolling through social media with one hand, feeding their children with the other and keeping their eyes on their screens while doing both.
Social scientists call it “technoference,” or digitally distracted parenting. Researchers speaking at the Digital Media and Developing Minds conference in the District this week warned that it’s on the rise as artificial intelligence improves.
“Technoference hurts the relationship between parents and children because the more they’re on devices, the less they’re building the skills necessary to be fully human,” said Kris Perry, executive director of Children and Screens, the nonprofit research network that hosted the gathering.
A former child abuse investigator in California, Ms. Perry said research has shown the “demonstrated harms” of technoference to children’s mental, emotional and physical health. Such harms range from inattentiveness and emotional outbursts in young children to sleeplessness, anxiety and depression in older teens.
Most recently, adolescent boys