Here, 37 percent of the parents surveyed answer that they have spent more than two hours at a screen in the past 24 hours while their children were present and awake.
The survey was conducted by Userneeds for the organization. 1000 parents have been asked about their screen habits in a questionnaire.
The answers are causing concern for Malene Angelo, a psychologist at Children’s Terms. The children are in fact dependent on the relationship that arises from the close contact.
– It is a problem because young children communicate with facial expressions, sounds and body. They are completely dependent on their parents seeing, interpreting and responding to their signals, she says.
According to her, a danger signal is the times when the phone or iPad is pulled out.
44 percent of the parent group with the high screen consumption have done so during cuddling, 41 percent during the playground and 29 percent during shared meals.
The survey also shows that a large proportion of the parents surveyed would like to spend less time at the screen – in fact, eight out of ten. Four out of ten even have a bad conscience about how much they sit by it while the kids are present.
Malene Angelo acknowledges, however, that it may be necessary to use her phone even if you are with the child.
But the study indicates that much of the time is spent on, for example, Facebook and not an important work-related call.
Ultimately, it can strike permanent shards in the relationship between parents and children.
In the short run, the children in the situation can react by becoming sad, frustrated and angry.
– Some children crawl and try to push the phone out of the hands of the parents or try in other ways to call on the parents’ attention by crying and whining.
– If it happens very often, then it can go beyond the basic trust and security in the relationship with the parents, which is so crucial for children to thrive and develop, says Malene Angelo.
In fact, the National Board of Health has issued official recommendations on screen use – for both children and adults.
Here it is stated, for example, that families can with advantage make agreements about screen use that apply to both parties, and that parents should be aware of how much time they spend with the phone and iPad in hand when the children are present.
Source: The Nordic Page