In many cases children with social and emotional problems are getting a device with a screen instead of the real help they need.
Children with social and emotional difficulties were more likely to be given mobile technology to calm them down or keep peace and quiet in the house, according to a small study led by a pediatrician at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan.
Devices were more likely to be used as a coping strategy to pacify children with difficult behavior. However, there were no differences between children with social-emotional difficulties and other children when it came to mobile technology use during other scenarios, such as eating, being in public, doing chores or at bedtime.
The study’s author Jenny Radesky, said, “Other studies [already] show that increased television time can hinder young children’s language and social development, partly because they reduce human-to-human interaction,”
And she worried – “Now that screens can be taken anywhere, they have become part of our interpersonal space. We’re interested in identifying the ways that mobile devices sometimes interfere with family dynamics, but also how we can use them as a tool to increase parent-child connection.”
She’s calling for more research on the effect the increased technology use in difficult situations might have on kids’ longer-term outcomes.