Parents Obsessed With Facebook May Contribute To Disruptive Behavior In Kids

In this age of social media, a lot of people are hooked in posting just about anything online. Kids and the younger generations are not the only ones who seem to be addicted to letting the world know what they’re up to. Even parents nowadays can’t stop checking their Facebook or Instagram or their devices in general. According to a new study, this could have an effect on their kids’ behavior.

Previous studies have stated that screen time for kids should be limited so as to prevent bad behavior in children. However, this new study pointed out that parents who are addicted to Facebook should also be blamed for behavioral issues in their children.

Parents who are addicted to Facebook are most likely to have children with behavioral problems.

Experts suggest that parents entertaining interruptions from the social media platform or even texting while spending time with their kids will most likely have disruptive kids. These children tend to feel rejected, which will ultimately contribute to their sudden outbursts, the study found, as reported by Mail Online.

To arrive at their findings, researchers from the University of Michigan and Illinois State University conducted a study and found that parents who were mostly distracted by their gadgets were likely to have kids that grow up to be disruptive.

Researchers looked into surveys done by 170 two-parent households. Both moms and dads were asked about the frequency of use of their devices, including tablets and smartphones and how much these devices interrupt family time. Almost half (48 percent) of the respondents reported three or more times of interruptions in a day while 17 percent said they experienced it once. Twenty-four percent had interruptions twice a day. Only 11 percent of parents reported no interruptions.

Parents, in a study, admit that they often get interrupted during quality time.

Although researchers need to dig deeper, the study found that even a slight interruption was associated with serious child behavior issues, which include hyperactivity, hot tempers and oversensitivity.

“This was a cross-sectional study, so we can’t assume a direct connection between parents’ technology use and child behavior but these findings help us better understand the relationship,” senior author Jenny Radesky said, according to Science Daily. Radesky is a pediatrician and a child behavior expert.

Radesky acknowledges what the benefits of being online are to parents, whether it’s keeping track of their social lives or checking up on work. She does not suggest banning the use of technology at home, but rather “setting boundaries” so parents can have a technology-free quality time with the children.