• 76% of parents report using their cell phone while at the playground with their child.

Mackay, L. J., Komanchuk, J., Hayden, K. A., & Letourneau, N. (2022). Impacts of parental technoference on parent-child relationships and child health and developmental outcomes: A scoping review protocol. Systematic Reviews, 11(1).
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-022-01918-3

• Parents use their cell phone for an average of 4 hours per day and check their phone for
notifications an average of 67 times per day.

Lippold, M. A., McDaniel, B. T., & Jensen, T. M. (2022). Mindful parenting and parent technology use: Examining the intersections and outlining future research directions. Social Sciences, 11(2), 43.
https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11020043

• 77.5% of American adolescents reported parental technoference at least some of the time.

• Adolescents with a high level of parental phubbing were more likely to cyberbully others.

• Parental technoference was associated with adolescent technoference.

Dixon, D., Sharp, C. A., Hughes, K., & Hughes, J. Carl. (2023). Parental technoference and
adolescents’ mental health and violent behaviour: A scoping review. BMC Public Health, 23(1).
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16850-x

• 4 of every 10 parents and teens report regularly arguing with one another about time spent on
their phone.

• 46% of teens say their parent is at least sometimes distracted by their phone when they’re
trying to talk to them.

Anderson, M., Faverio, M., & Park, E. (2024, March 11). How teens and parents approach screen
time. Pew Research Center.
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/03/11/how-teens-and-parents-approach-screen-time/

• Nearly half (48%) of parents report / recognize that their own phone use disrupts interactions
with their child 3 or more times on a typical day.

• 40% of mothers and 32% of fathers state that they believe their digital technology use is
problematic.

• Greater techonference in parents is associated with greater behavioral problems in children.

McDaniel, B. T., & Radesky, J. S. (2017). Technoference: Parent distraction with technology and
associations with child behavior problems. Child Development, 89(1), 100–109.
https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12822

• Children are less relaxed, more upset, and unsatisfied when their parents is using a phone
during their interactions.

• When technoference occurs between parents and their children, parents are less aware and
sensitive to their child’s needs. There are also fewer verbal and nonverbal interactions, along
with less coordinated parenting and coparenting. Children express dissatisfaction with time
spent together and are more likely to have negative reactions such as tantrums and other
problematic behaviors.

McDaniel, B. T. (2019). Parent distraction with phones, reasons for use, and impacts on parenting
and child outcomes: A review of the emerging research. Human Behavior and Emerging
Technologies, 1(2), 72–80.
https://doi.org/10.1002/hbe2.139