Nearly seven in ten parents say they’re at least sometimes distracted by their phone when spending time with their children, yet when we talk about screen time, we typically only focus on the hours our children spend in front of tablets, phones, or televisions. There’s another kind of screen time that matters just as much, if not more—our own. Research shows that when smartphones are present during parent-child interactions, people feel less socially connected, more distracted, and enjoy direct communication less. For toddlers and preschoolers, these micro-moments of disconnection matter profoundly. Children are acutely sensitive to where our attention is, and when they sense we’re not fully present, they may respond with big emotions, interruptions, or withdrawal.

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