It’s certainly convenient to have your phone with you at all times, especially for busy working parents. But there’s a downside to all that convenience. When the phone buzzes or pings to notify of a work email, message or some other notification, parents pick up the phone to check it and according to a new study, the more they do it, the more stressed out they become.
While moms and dads are concerned their kids get too absorbed and distracted by their phones’ never-ending pings and how it affects them, it turns out, parents are just as distracted and it's stressing them out.
- For the study, researchers from the University of Michigan Medicine worked with 62 parents of kids ages four to six.
- During the study, parents got an average of nearly 300 notifications every day.
- Study authors note that the notifications were only associated with more stress if they required parents to pick up their phone more often.
- They picked up their phones an average of 93 times a day in the study.
- According to researchers, it makes sense that parents who are juggling parenting and home life with work and other responsibilities may feel extra stress when they’re pulled away by their phones.
“We’ve all experienced that untimely ping on our phone. Sometimes it’s just a nuisance, but it could also be the crucial message we’ve been waiting for, even if it wakes us up or disrupts our focus,” explains Dr. Marschall Runge, CEO of Michigan Medicine. “In today’s always-connected world, there’s an expectation to be reachable 24/7, but this constant connectivity comes at a cost: distraction, stress, and even depression.”
Source: NY Post