“It's A Drag”: Exploring How to Improve Parents’ Experiences of Managing Mobile Device Use During Family Time
Abstract
Research reveals that managing mobile device use during family time can be a source of stress for parents. In particular, it can create conflict in their relationships. As such, there is a need to understand how these problematic experiences might be addressed by new approaches to technology design. This paper presents a study in which 14 parents were prompted to reflect on how their experiences and relationships could be improved by four design proposals. These proposals resulted from ideation workshops involving 12 professional designers, and were presented as scenario-based storyboards during interviews. Our interviews revealed three design approaches that appealed to parents. We describe seven benefits that parents imagined these approaches would have, and discuss ways in which they should be further explored. Thus, we contribute to a more complete understanding of how technology design might better support parents’ aspirations for how devices are used within the family.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Family communication can be hindered or disrupted by excessive technology use, parental work-family conflict, and undesirable communication patterns.
“However, family communications can be hindered or disrupted by many issues, such as excessive technology use [19], parental work-family conflict [77], and undesirable communication patterns [94].”
From "When He Feels Cold, He Goes to the Seahorse"—Blending Generative AI into Multimaterial Storymaking for Family Expressive Arts Therapy (2024) · cites this paper as [19]
Cites
A General Inductive Approach for Analyzing Qualitative Evaluation Data
Thomas, D. R. (2006) · American Journal of Evaluation · doi:10.1177/1098214005283748 · Cited by 10,858 · see citing works
Awareness and coordination in shared workspaces
Dourish, P., & Bellotti, V. (1992) · Proceedings of the 1992 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work - CSCW '92 · doi:10.1145/143457.143468 · Cited by 2,550 · see citing works
Parental Mediation of Children's Internet Use
Livingstone, S., & Helsper, E. J. (2008) · Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media · doi:10.1080/08838150802437396 · Cited by 1,352 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Within families, this way of using mobile devices can give rise to feelings of social isolation [81], and motivate parents’ efforts to monitor and curb mobile device use during family time [51, 87].”
BackgroundWhat should we expect from research through design?
Gaver, W. W. (2012) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/2207676.2208538 · Cited by 1,163 · see citing works
Licoppe, C. (2004) · Environment and Planning D Society and Space · doi:10.1068/d323t · Cited by 939 · see citing works
Young children's screen time: The complex role of parent and child factors
Lauricella, A. R., Wartella, E. A., & Rideout, V. J. (2015) · Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2014.12.001 · Cited by 743 · see citing works
Parental Mediation Theory for the Digital Age
Clark, L. S. (2011) · Communication Theory · doi:10.1111/j.1468-2885.2011.01391.x · Cited by 728 · see citing works
Technoference: Parent distraction with technology and associations with child behavior problems
McDaniel, B. T., & Radesky, J. S. (2018) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/cdev.12822 · Cited by 617 · see citing works
Patterns of mobile device use by caregivers and children during meals in fast food restaurants
Radesky, J. S., Kistin, C. J., Zuckerman, B., Nitzberg, K., Gross, J., Kaplan-Sanoff, M., Augustyn, M., & Silverstein, M. (2014) · Pediatrics · doi:10.1542/peds.2013-3703 · Cited by 468 · see citing works
Research through design fiction
Blythe, M. (2014) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/2556288.2557098 · Cited by 427 · see citing works
Developing scales to measure parental mediation of young children's internet use
Nikken, P., & Jansz, J. (2013) · Learning Media and Technology · doi:10.1080/17439884.2013.782038 · Cited by 414 · see citing works
Greenberg, S., Marquardt, N., Ballendat, T., Diaz-Marino, R., & Wang, M. (2011) · interactions · doi:10.1145/1897239.1897250 · Cited by 391 · see citing works
Impact of parents mobile device use on parent-child interaction: A literature review
Kildare, C. A., & Middlemiss, W. (2017) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2017.06.003 · Cited by 386 · see citing works
Hiniker, A., Schoenebeck, S. Y., & Kientz, J. A. (2016) · ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) · doi:10.1145/2818048.2819940 · Cited by 298 · see citing works
Hassenzahl, M., Heidecker, S., Eckoldt, K., Diefenbach, S., & Hillmann, U. (2012) · ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction · doi:10.1145/2395131.2395137 · Cited by 270 · see citing works
Just picking it up? Young children learning with technology at home
Plowman, L., McPake, J., & Stephen, C. (2008) · Cambridge Journal of Education · doi:10.1080/03057640802287564 · Cited by 240 · see citing works
Lyngs, U., Lukoff, K., Slovák, P., Binns, R., Slack, A., Inzlicht, M., Kleek, M. G. V., & Shadbolt, N. (2019) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3290605.3300361 · Cited by 229 · see citing works
What Makes Smartphone Use Meaningful or Meaningless?
Lukoff, K., Yu, C., Kientz, J., & Hiniker, A. (2018) · Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies · doi:10.1145/3191754 · Cited by 205 · see citing works
Kumar, P. C., & Schoenebeck, S. Y. (2015) · ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) · doi:10.1145/2675133.2675149 · Cited by 199 · see citing works
Digital motherhood: how does technology help new mothers?
Gibson, L., & Hanson, V. L. (2013) · Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/2470654.2470700 · Cited by 190 · see citing works
Understanding and Supporting Fathers and Fatherhood on Social Media Sites
Ammari, T., & Schoenebeck, S. Y. (2015) · doi:10.1145/2702123.2702205 · Cited by 183 · see citing works
Zaman, B., Nouwen, M., Vanattenhoven, J., de Ferrerre, E., & LOOY, J. V. (2016) · Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media · doi:10.1080/08838151.2015.1127240 · Cited by 176 · see citing works
Hiniker, A., Sobel, K., Suh, H., Sung, Y.-C., Lee, C. P., & Kientz, J. A. (2015) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/2702123.2702199 · Cited by 175 · see citing works
Social networking site use by mothers of young children
Morris, M. R. (2014) · ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (CSCW) · doi:10.1145/2531602.2531603 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Managing Children's Online Identities
Ammari, T., Kumar, P. C., Lampe, C. A. C., & Schoenebeck, S. Y. (2015) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/2702123.2702325 · Cited by 168 · see citing works
McDaniel, B. T., Galovan, A. M., Cravens, J. D., & Drouin, M. (2017) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2017.11.019 · Cited by 162 · see citing works
Hiniker, A., Hong, S.-S., Kohno, T., & Kientz, J. A. (2016) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/2858036.2858403 · Cited by 155 · see citing works
Hiniker, A., Suh, H., Cao, S., & Kientz, J. A. (2016) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/2858036.2858278 · Cited by 146 · see citing works
Social and technical challenges in parenting teens' social media use
Yardi, S., & Bruckman, A. S. (2011) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/1978942.1979422 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Blackwell, L., Gardiner, E., & Schoenebeck, S. Y. (2016) · ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) · doi:10.1145/2818048.2819928 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
Parenting with Alexa: Exploring the Introduction of Smart Speakers on Family Dynamics
Beneteau, E., Boone, A., Wu, Y., Kientz, J. A., Yip, J., & Hiniker, A. (2020) · Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3313831.3376344 · Cited by 140 · see citing works
It wasn't really about the Pokémon
Sobel, K., Bhattacharya, A., Hiniker, A., Lee, J. H., Kientz, J. A., & Yip, J. C. (2017) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3025453.3025761 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
The Frustrations and Benefits of Mobile Device Usage in the Home when Co-Present with Family Members
Oduor, E., Neustaedter, C., Odom, W., Tang, A., Moallem, N., Tory, M. K., & Irani, P. (2016) · Designing Interactive Systems Conference · doi:10.1145/2901790.2901809 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Modeling the Engagement-Disengagement Cycle of Compulsive Phone Use
Tran, J. A., Yang, K. S., Davis, K. S., & Hiniker, A. (2019) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3290605.3300542 · Cited by 104 · see citing works
Kim, J., Park, J.-Y., Lee, H., Ko, M., & Lee, U. (2019) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3290605.3300927 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Investigating Genres and Perspectives in HCI Research on the Home
Desjardins, A., Wakkary, R., & Odom, W. (2015) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/2702123.2702540 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Technologies for Enhancing Collocated Social Interaction: Review of Design Solutions and Approaches
Olsson, T., Jarusriboonchai, P., Woźniak, P. W., Paasovaara, S., Väänänen, K., & Lucero, A. (2019) · Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) · doi:10.1007/s10606-019-09345-0 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Lottridge, D. M., Masson, N., & Mackay, W. E. (2009) · ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) · doi:10.1145/1518701.1519058 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Ackerman, M. S., & Starr, B. (1995) · ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST) · doi:10.1145/215585.215969 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Ammari, T., Schoenebeck, S. Y., & Romero, D. M. (2018) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3173574.3174063 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Young school children’s use of digital devices and parental rules
Goh, W. W. L., Bay, S. G. K., & Chen, V. H. H. (2015) · Telematics and Informatics · doi:10.1016/j.tele.2015.04.002 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
GoalKeeper: Exploring Interaction Lockout Mechanisms for Regulating Smartphone Use
Kim, J., Jung, H., Ko, M., & Lee, U. (2019) · Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies · doi:10.1145/3314403 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Moser, C., Schoenebeck, S. Y., & Reinecke, K. (2016) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/2858036.2858357 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Interpersonal awareness in the domestic realm
Neustaedter, C., Elliot, K., & Greenberg, S. (2006) · doi:10.1145/1228175.1228182 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Mazmanian, M., & Lanette, S. (2017) · ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) · doi:10.1145/2998181.2998218 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Designing for Digital Wellbeing
Cecchinato, M. E., Rooksby, J., Hiniker, A., Munson, S. A., Lukoff, K., Ciolfi, L., Thieme, A., & Harrison, D. (2019) · CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA) · doi:10.1145/3290607.3298998 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Whittaker, S., Kalnikaitė, V., Hollis, V., & Guydish, A. J. (2016) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/2858036.2858193 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
When home base is not a place: parents’ use of mobile telephones
Palen, L. A., & Hughes, A. (2006) · Personal and Ubiquitous Computing · doi:10.1007/s00779-006-0078-3 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Kawsar, F., & Brush, A. J. B. (2013) · ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp) · doi:10.1145/2493432.2493494 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Ferdous, H. S., Ploderer, B., Davis, H., Vetere, F., O'Hara, K. P., Farr‐Wharton, G., & Comber, R. (2016) · ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp) · doi:10.1145/2971648.2971715 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Hiniker, A., Lee, B., Sobel, K., & Choe, E. K. (2017) · ACM International Conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC) · doi:10.1145/3078072.3079752 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Davis, K. S., Dinhopl, A., & Hiniker, A. (2019) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3290605.3300457 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Family and design in the IDC and CHI communities
Isola, S., & Fails, J. A. (2012) · ACM International Conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC) · doi:10.1145/2307096.2307102 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Understanding Parents' Perspectives on Mealtime Technology
Chen, Y.-Y., Li, Z., Rosner, D. K., & Hiniker, A. (2019) · Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive Mobile Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies · doi:10.1145/3314392 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Augmenting Couples' Communication with Lifelines
Griggio, C. F., Nouwens, M., McGrenere, J., & Mackay, W. E. (2019) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3290605.3300853 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Photo Displays and Intergenerational Relationships in the Family Home
Durrant, A. C., Taylor, A. S., Frohlich, D. M., Sellen, A. J., & Uzzell, D. L. (2009) · Electronic workshops in computing · doi:10.14236/ewic/hci2009.2 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Families with young children and ‘screen time’
Livingstone, S., & Franklin, K. (2018) · Journal of Health Visiting · doi:10.12968/johv.2018.6.9.434 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Photo Displays and Intergenerational Relationships in the Family Home
Durrant, A. C. (2009) · Surrey Research Insight Open Access (The University of Surrey) · doi:10.5555/1671011.1671013 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Supporting the Complex Social Lives of New Parents
Toombs, A. L., Morrissey, K., Simpson, E. L., Gray, C. M., Vines, J., & Balaam, M. (2018) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3173574.3173994 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Schiano, D. J., Burg, C., Smith, A. N., & Moore, F. (2016) · CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA) · doi:10.1145/2851581.2892481 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Mavoa, J., Carter, M., & Gibbs, M. (2017) · Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play · doi:10.1145/3116595.3116638 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Yarosh, S., Schoenebeck, S. Y., Kothaneth, S., & Bales, E. (2016) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/2858036.2858210 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Ferdous, H. S., Ploderer, B., Davis, H., Vetere, F., & O'Hara, K. P. (2015) · Australian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction (OzCHI) · doi:10.1145/2838739.2838780 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Increasing Collocated People's Awareness of the Mobile User's Activities
Jarusriboonchai, P., Malapaschas, A., Olsson, T., & Väänänen, K. (2016) · ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) · doi:10.1145/2818048.2819990 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Plaisant, C., Druin, A., & Hutchinson, H. B. (2002) · CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA) · doi:10.1145/506443.506669 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Derix, E. C., & Leong, T. W. (2018) · Australian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction (OzCHI) · doi:10.1145/3292147.3292185 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Exploring the Non-Use of Mobile Devices in Families through Provocative Design
Bruun, A., Jensen, R. H., Kjeldskov, J., Paay, J., Hansen, C. M., Sakácová, K. L., & Larsen, M. H. (2020) · Designing Interactive Systems Conference · doi:10.1145/3357236.3395428 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Gender Norms and Attitudes about Childcare Activities Presented on Father Blogs
Lukoff, K., Moser, C., & Schoenebeck, S. Y. (2017) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3025453.3025767 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Fails, J. A., Guha, M. L., Horn, M., & Isola, S. (2012) · CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA) · doi:10.1145/2212776.2212709 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Probes to Explore the Individual Perspectives on Technology Use that exist within Sets of Parents
Derix, E. C., & Leong, T. (2020) · Conference on Designing Interactive Systems · doi:10.1145/3357236.3395471 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Supporting reflection through play
Dong, T., Newman, M., Ackerman, M. S., & Schoenebeck, S. Y. (2015) · ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp) · doi:10.1145/2750858.2804294 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Social Displays on Mobile Devices
Jarusriboonchai, P., Olsson, T., & Väänänen, K. (2015) · International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (MobileHCI) · doi:10.1145/2785830.2785863 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Stein, A. T., & Polyak, E. (2022) · doi:10.17918/00001117 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Derix, E. C., Leong, T., & Prior, J. (2021) · CHI Extended Abstracts · doi:10.1145/3411763.3451714 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Liu, D., Zhou, H., & An, P. (2024) · Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3613904.3642852 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Dumaru, P., Atashpanjeh, H., & Al-Ameen, M. N. (2024) · Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1145/3637359 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
A Deep Dive into User's Preferences and Behavior around Mobile Phone Sharing
Paudel, R., Dumaru, P., Shrestha, A., Kocabas, H., & Al-Ameen, M. N. (2023) · Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1145/3579595 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Dumaru, P., Hackler, B., Flood, A., & Al-Ameen, M. N. (2024) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3613904.3642696 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Armstrong, T., Leong, T. W., Shum, S. B., & van den Hoven, E. (2024) · Designing Interactive Systems Conference · doi:10.1145/3643834.3661564 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Wu, Y., Miller, A., Chung, C.-F., & Kaziunas, E. (2024) · Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1145/3687016 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Parents' awareness of the conscious use of applications on smart devices: A scale development study
Öztürk, G., & Sarıtaş, F. Ş. (2023) · Education and Information Technologies · doi:10.1007/s10639-022-11552-0 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Dumaru, P., & Al-Ameen, M. N. (2025) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3706598.3713548 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
What is Digital Wellbeing? A Leverage Points Framework to Guide Research and Action
Roffarello, A. M., Molino, M., & Russis, L. D. (2026) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3772318.3793192 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
What Happened to Scenario-Based Design in HCI?: A Scoping Review
Carroll, J. M., Jo, J., Kim, J., Lin, Y.-F., & Chen, E. (2026) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3772318.3790899
Paudel, R., & Al-Ameen, M. N. (2026) · ACM International Conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC) · doi:10.1145/3773077.3812165
Understanding Parent's Expectations of Teens-AI Interactions towards Conflict Resolution
Paudel, R., & Al-Ameen, M. N. (2026) · ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) · doi:10.1145/3785651.3831538
- Authors
- Chin Derix, E., Wah Leong, T., & Prior, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Technology Sydney, Australia
- University of Technology Sydney (AU)
- ORCID
- Prior, Julia
- Venue
- CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
- Publisher
- ACM
- Published
- 2022-04-29
- Pages
- 1-20
- OpenAlex
- W4225014755
- Cited by
- 12
- References
- 73
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 2
- FWCI
- 15.76
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Child Development and Digital Technology
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
- Social Sciences › Education › Educational Methods and Impacts
- Keywords
- mobile device use, family time, parental stress, parent-child relationship, family conflict, technology design, design proposal, ideation workshops, screen time management
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
