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A new study published in Child Development is the first to examine the real-time link between phone use and the amount of speech directed at infants during daily interactions. It tracked phone use and maternal speech over a week, finding that even brief phone use episodes significantly reduce the speech infants hear from their mothers. While prior research indicated that parental phone use disrupts engagement, it often took place in controlled settings, potentially misrepresenting typical home interactions.
The study emphasizes the importance of early speech input for children’s language development and aims to understand how parental phone use affects the amount of speech directed at infants during everyday interactions. Researchers Miriam Mikhelson and Kaya de Barbaro from the University of Texas at Austin highlight that while previous studies link parental phone use to children’s language development, they often fail to capture the real-life complexities of these interactions. By observing parent-infant interactions over an extended period, the study provides a more accurate view of how phone use influences the quantity of speech infants hear, enhancing our understanding of its effects on language development.
The researchers studied 16 mother-infant pairs over a week, collecting detailed data on phone use and verbal interactions. Infants, averaging four months old, wore audio recording devices while mothers’ phone use was tracked through a smartphone app. This approach allowed for a realistic assessment of interactions outside laboratory settings. Phone use was categorized into short (1-2 minutes), medium (3-6 minutes), and long (over 7 minutes) episodes. The researchers were surprised to find an average of 4.4 hours of phone use per 12-hour period among participants, highlighting significant levels of phone engagement, especially at the higher end of usage.
Researchers Mikhelson and de Barbaro highlighted that while the study found a link between parental phone use and decreased speech input to infants, the specific factors driving this association and its long-term effects on language development are still unclear. They noted that phone use doesn’t uniformly harm children’s speech input, suggesting that completely eliminating phone use during childcare isn’t necessary or realistic.
They advise parents to be mindful of how phones can affect their responsiveness to their child’s needs, emphasizing the importance of consistent care for infants. However, they acknowledge that some parents may not be able to minimize phone use due to work or other responsibilities. For anxious new parents, they recommend striving to engage with their children while being honest about how phone use may interfere with that engagement. Recognizing the distractions posed by smartphones is an essential first step.
While the study offers important insights into how phone use impacts parent-infant interactions, it has several limitations. One major limitation is the small and homogeneous sample size, consisting of only 16 mother-infant pairs, mostly White, highly educated, and from the same area, which may not represent the broader population. Future research should include more diverse participants in terms of race, socioeconomic status, and family structure.
Another limitation is the inability to directly observe the nature of phone use; the study only tracked whether the phone screen was on or off, which doesn’t clarify the specific activities mothers were engaged in. For instance, video calls might involve more interaction than checking social media. More detailed data on phone activities could enhance understanding of their impact on interactions.
Finally, while the study found a strong association between phone use and decreased speech, it doesn’t establish causality. Mothers may use their phones more during times when infants are less engaged or during routine tasks. Future research should investigate not just the frequency of phone use but also the contexts in which it occurs and how these contexts affect parent-child communication.
Researchers highlighted that advancements in wearable sensor technology and multimodal data collection are improving the ability to measure parent and child behavior in home environments. Future studies should explore the effects of different types of phone use (such as texting, calls, or social media) and contexts (like meals, playtime, or breastfeeding) on parental speech rates, given the variability in their findings.
Additionally, future research should prioritize participant diversity, incorporating more variation in class, race, gender, and family structure, as the ways parents engage with smartphones likely differ across populations. The study titled “Mothers speak less to infants during detected real-world phone use” was authored by Miriam Mikhelson and Kaya de Barbaro, among others.
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