The DOI matches its Crossref record; 44 of the 44 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Smartphones distract parents from cultivating feelings of connection when spending time with their children
Open accessAbstract
In the U.S., 95% of smartphone users admit to having used their smartphones during their latest social gathering. Although smartphones are designed to connect us with others, such smartphone use may create a source of distraction that disconnects us from the people in our immediate social environment. Focusing on one fundamental social relationship—between parents and their children—we examined whether smartphones made parents feel distracted, thereby undermining key benefits parents reap when spending time with their children. Ina field experiment at a science museum (Study 1), we randomly assigned parents to use their phones frequently or infrequently. Frequent phone use led parents to feel more distracted, which in turn impaired feelings of social connection and the meaning that parents derived when spending time with their children. In an additional weeklong diary study (Study 2), we found further evidence that smartphones can distract parents from reaping a sense of social connection when spending time with their children. These studies suggest that being constantly connected to the Internet may carry subtle costs for the fabric of social life.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
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?
In the citing paper
“Indeed, across a variety of social situations-from spending time with one's children [29] to sharing a meal with friends [30]-phones decrease well-being precisely by fragmenting people's attention [24].”
From The effects of smartphones on well-being: theoretical integration and research agenda (2020) · cites this paper as [29]
Citations
Cites
(2013) · Cited by 44,563
Social Influence: Compliance and Conformity
Cialdini, R. B., & Goldstein, N. J. (2004) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.142015 · Cited by 6,077
Alone together: why we expect more from technology and less from each other
Fernández Pedemonte, D. (2011) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.48-7239 · Cited by 4,608
A Survey Method for Characterizing Daily Life Experience: The Day Reconstruction Method
Kahneman, D., Krueger, A. B., Schkade, D. A., Schwarz, N., & Stone, A. A. (2004) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1103572 · Cited by 3,422
The Ecological Approach To Visual Perception
Gibson, J. J. (2013) · Psychology Press eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203767764 · Cited by 2,622
A wandering mind is an unhappy mind
Killingsworth, M. A., & Gilbert, D. T. (2010) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1192439 · Cited by 2,575
Daily Well-Being: The Role of Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness
Reis, H. T., Sheldon, K. M., Gable, S. L., Roscoe, J., & Ryan, R. M. (2000) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167200266002 · Cited by 2,067
Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips
Sparrow, B., Liu, J., & Wegner, D. M. (2011) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1207745 · Cited by 1,762
On the economy of the human-processing system.
Navon, D., & Gopher, D. (1979) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.86.3.214 · Cited by 1,737
Feldman, G., Hayes, A., Kumar, S., Greeson, J., & Laurenceau, J.-P. (2007) · Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment · doi:10.1007/s10862-006-9035-8 · Cited by 1,630
Research works printed but not linked: 4
- Gibson J. J. (1977). Theory of affordances. In Shaw R., Bransford J. (Eds.) Perceiving, acting, and knowing (pp. 127–136). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
- Hayes A. (2013b). Multilevel mediation analysis. Workshop presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, Washington, DC. Retrieved on February 28, 2017, from http://afhayes.com/public/aps2013.pdf
- Kushlev K. (2018). Media technology and well-being: A complementarity-interference model. In Diener E., Oishi S., Tay L. (Eds.), Handbook of well-being. Noba Scholar Handbook series: Subjective well-being. Salt Lake City, UT: DEF publishers. DOI: nobascholar.com
- Sweety J. S. (2016). A study: Mobile computing. International Journal of Scientific Research in Science, Engineering and Technology(IJSRSET), 2, 177–180. Retrieved from http://ijsrset.com/IJSRSET162546.php
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Smartphones, social media use and youth mental health
Abi-Jaoude, E., Naylor, K. T., & Pignatiello, A. (2020) · Canadian Medical Association Journal · doi:10.1503/cmaj.190434 · Cited by 627
Montag, C., Lachmann, B., Herrlich, M., & Zweig, K. (2019) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph16142612 · Cited by 387
“Beyond the mentioned issues, (excessive use of) smartphones is known to impact on social communication in terms of reducing smiles when interacting with strangers [13], enjoyment of face-to-face interaction [14] or drawing parent’s attention away from their children [15].”
BackgroundThe Multipurpose Application WeChat: A Review on Recent Research
Montag, C., Becker, B., & Gan, C. (2018) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02247 · Cited by 274
“…also touch the area of a digital etiquette (Montag and Diefenbach, 2018), and more detailed, if WeChat usage leads to lower social connection/taking less care of one’s own children (Kushlev and Dunn, 2018), possibly also resulting in lower empathy (Melchers et al., 2015; Lachmann et al., 2018).”
BackgroundMcDaniel, B. T. (2019) · Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies · doi:10.1002/hbe2.139 · Cited by 255
Two social lives: how differences between online and offline interaction influence social outcomes
Lieberman, A., & Schroeder, J. (2020) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.06.022 · Cited by 252
“Phone use during social interaction can reduce feelings of social connection [41,42 ,43,44], the perceived quality of the interaction [45,46], enjoyment gained from the interaction [47 ], and even frequency of smiling at others [48].”
BackgroundThe effects of smartphones on well-being: theoretical integration and research agenda
Kushlev, K., & Leitao, M. R. (2020) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.05.001 · Cited by 129
The social price of constant connectivity: smartphones impose subtle costs on well-being
Kushlev, K., Dwyer, R., & Dunn, E. W. (2019) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0963721419847200 · Cited by 114
“To examine whether such distraction interferes with the benefits of face-to-face social interactions, we conducted a preregistered field experiment at a science museum in Vancouver (Kushlev & Dunn, 2019).”
BackgroundMethodPeterka‐Bonetta, J., Sindermann, C., Elhai, J. D., & Montag, C. (2019) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2019.00127 · Cited by 115
“Among strangers, smartphone usage has shown to undermine smiling behavior (10) and in families it might be detrimental to paying attention to one’s own children (11), negatively impact communication patterns at family meals (12) and the enjoyment of face to face interactions [(13); see also (14)].”
BackgroundMontag, C., & Elhai, J. D. (2020) · Addictive Behaviors Reports · doi:10.1016/j.abrep.2020.100313 · Cited by 124
Elhai, J. D., Yang, H., & Montag, C. (2019) · Current Addiction Reports · doi:10.1007/s40429-019-00260-4 · Cited by 106
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 116
“An experimental study manipulating parents’ smartphone use found that parents felt less connected to their children and more distracted if they checked their phones during a shared family activity [45].”
BackgroundWang, X., Qiao, Y., & Wang, S. (2022) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2022.09.163 · Cited by 106
Matthes, J., Thomas, M. F., Stević, A., & Schmuck, D. (2020) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2020.106618 · Cited by 92
Knitter, B., & Zemp, M. (2020) · Digital Psychology · doi:10.24989/dp.v1i1.1809 · Cited by 81
“The effects on parental attention quality were confirmed by a diary study (Kushlev & Dunn, 2019 (Study 2)), where parents reported that two thirds of parent-child interactions included a smartphone.”
BackgroundInfluentialTammisalo, K., & Rotkirch, A. (2022) · Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · doi:10.1177/02654075221087942 · Cited by 76
“…positive effects of co-use may indeed be causal: Two experimental studies found co-use to enhance parent – child interaction as an immediate outcome (Kushlev & Dunn, 2019, study 1; Skaug et al., 2018), and one longitudinal study reported co-use to improve family functioning 1 year later (Hodge et…”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialWang, X.-C., Qiao, Y., Li, W., & Lei, L. (2021) · Journal of Interpersonal Violence · doi:10.1177/08862605211042807 · Cited by 63
Wang, X., & Qiao, Y. (2022) · Journal of Youth and Adolescence · doi:10.1007/s10964-022-01655-9 · Cited by 59
Komanchuk, J., Toews, A. J., Marshall, S., MacKay, L. J., Hayden, A., Cameron, J. L., Duffett‐Leger, L., & Letourneau, N. L. (2023) · Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking · doi:10.1089/cyber.2022.0278 · Cited by 66
“Overall, 61 reports (4 articles included more than 1 study) were included; the inclusion criteria were met for study 1 and 2 in 3 reports 26–28 and study 1 in the fourth report.”
Li, C., Ning, G., Xia, Y., Guo, K., & Liu, Q. (2022) · Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.3390/bs12110425 · Cited by 72
“Nevertheless, other studies reveal that Internet usage may distract people’s attention [10,11,65,66,83], reduce their social skills [47,67,68,84,85], and may even increase negative emotions [10,11,53,73,86].”
BackgroundKadylak, T. (2019) · Mobile Media & Communication · doi:10.1177/2050157919872238 · Cited by 55
Akhtar, F., Patel, P., Heyat, M. B. B., Yousaf, S., Baig, A. A., Mohona, R. A., Mutoffar, M. M., Bhattacharya, T., Teelhawod, B. N., Li, J., et al. (2022) · CNS & Neurological Disorders - Drug Targets · doi:10.2174/1871527321666220614121439 · Cited by 50
Nawaz, S. (2024) · Computers in Human Behavior Reports · doi:10.1016/j.chbr.2024.100424 · Cited by 58
How Can People Become Happier? A Systematic Review of Preregistered Experiments
Folk, D. P., & Dunn, E. W. (2023) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-022423-030818 · Cited by 51
The Observed Quality of Caregiver-Child Interactions With and Without a Mobile Screen Device
Ochoa, W., Reich, S. M., & Farkas, G. (2020) · Academic Pediatrics · doi:10.1016/j.acap.2020.07.012 · Cited by 42
Cognitive behavioral intervention in dealing with Internet addiction among Arab teenagers in Israel
Agbaria, Q. (2022) · International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction · doi:10.1007/s11469-021-00733-6 · Cited by 42
Frackowiak, M., Ochs, C., Wolfers, L. N., & Abeele, M. V. (2023) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/jcpp.13917 · Cited by 46
The effects of maternal smartphone use on mother–child interaction
Lederer, Y., Artzi, H., & Borodkin, K. (2021) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/cdev.13715 · Cited by 43
A Meta-Analysis of Mobile Phone Use and Presence
Courtright, J. A., & Caplan, S. E. (2020) · Human Communication & Technology · doi:10.17161/hct.v1i2.13412 · Cited by 39
Shao, T., Zhu, C., Lei, H., Jiang, Y., Wang, H., & Zhang, C. (2024) · Psychology Research and Behavior Management · doi:10.2147/prbm.s456411 · Cited by 50
Büttner, C. M., Gloster, A. T., & Greifeneder, R. (2021) · Mobile Media & Communication · doi:10.1177/20501579211059914 · Cited by 42
“This happens because phubbing disengages a person from their partner by taking attention away from the other person, which results in feeling less connected, more distant, and less empathetic (Kushlev & Dunn, 2019; Kushlev & Heintzelman, 2018; Misra et al., 2016).”
BackgroundSeeing light in the dark: Investigating the dark side of social media and user response strategies
Sands, S., Campbell, C., Ferraro, C., & Mavrommatis, A. (2019) · European Management Journal · doi:10.1016/j.emj.2019.10.001 · Cited by 39
Anxiety and depression amongst youth as adverse effects of using social media : A Review
Prasad, S., Souabni, S. A., Anugwom, G., Aneni, K., Anand, A., Urhi, A., Obi-Azuike, C., Gibson, T., Khan, A., & Oladunjoye, A. F. (2023) · Annals of Medicine and Surgery · doi:10.1097/ms9.0000000000001066 · Cited by 47
The UBC State Social Connection Scale: Factor Structure, Reliability, and Validity
Lok, I., & Dunn, E. W. (2022) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/19485506221132090 · Cited by 37
Liu, Z., Sun, X., Guo, Y., & Yang, S. L. (2021) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-021-01363-w · Cited by 31
Lippold, M. A., McDaniel, B. T., & Jensen, T. M. (2022) · Social Sciences · doi:10.3390/socsci11020043 · Cited by 41
“…with children and adolescents suggests that adolescents feel more negatively toward interactions they have with their parent when their parent uses a phone, at times even perceiving the parent to be less warm and loving (Kushlev and Dunn 2019; Steiner-Adair and Barker 2013; Stockdale et al. 2018).”
BackgroundGutierrez, S. A., & Ventura, A. K. (2021) · Early Human Development · doi:10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2021.105305 · Cited by 33
“Parents also report that balancing their attention between their device and their child is difficult and that it leads them to feel like they extract less meaning from time spent with their children [22].”
BackgroundProctor, A. S., Barth, A., & Holt‐Lunstad, J. (2023) · Lifestyle Medicine · doi:10.1002/lim2.91 · Cited by 35
Lay beliefs about meaning in life: Examinations across targets, time, and countries
Heintzelman, S. J., Mohideen, F., Oishi, S., & King, L. A. (2020) · Journal of Research in Personality · doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2020.104003 · Cited by 30
Directly-measured smartphone screen time predicts well-being and feelings of social connectedness
Anderl, C., Hofer, M. K., & Chen, F. S. (2023) · Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · doi:10.1177/02654075231158300 · Cited by 36
Vaterlaus, J. M., Beckert, T. E., & Schmitt‐Wilson, S. (2019) · Journal of Family Issues · doi:10.1177/0192513x19856644 · Cited by 32
Wiltshire, C. A., Troller‐Renfree, S. V., Giebler, M. A., & Noble, K. G. (2021) · Infant Behavior and Development · doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2021.101644 · Cited by 26
Chia, M., Komar, J., Chua, T. B. K., & Tay, L. Y. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph191811508 · Cited by 29
“Other scholars opine that an early adoption of digital media predisposes preschool children to physically inactive indoor lifestyles [11,12], displaces outdoor play [13], increases the risk of an earlier development of myopia [14], affects sleep duration and sleep quality [15], impairs self-regulation [16], and reduce…”
BackgroundDeters, F. G., & Schoedel, R. (2023) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2023.107977 · Cited by 29
Nath, S., Pearson, R. M., Moran, P., Pawlby, S. J., Molyneaux, E., & Howard, L. M. (2019) · Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/s00127-019-01790-y · Cited by 26
Parental technoference and adolescents’ mental health and violent behaviour: a scoping review
Dixon, D., Sharp, C. A., Hughes, K., & Hughes, J. C. (2023) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-023-16850-x · Cited by 26
“Further, observations suggest parents can demonstrate less sensitivity towards their children when digitally distracted, using harsher and angry parenting styles [12, 24, 25].”
BackgroundEffect of Maternal Factors on Problematic Smartphone Use among Elementary School Children
Lee, E. J., & Kim, H. S. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph18179182 · Cited by 24
“In this study, maternal mediation did not affect children’s PSU, which is inconsistent with previous study findings [17,36,37].”
ResultDevelopment and validation of the Maternal Distraction Questionnaire
Ventura, A. K., Hupp, M., Gutierrez, S. A., & Almeida, R. (2020) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e03276 · Cited by 25
“…all, previous studies suggest that parents are not effective at disengaging when using mobile devices or other forms of technology during mealtime (Kushlev and Dunn, 2018; Moser et al., 2016; Radesky et al., 2014, 2015), play (Kirkorian et al., 2009; Myruski et al., 2018; Pempek et al., 2014;…”
BackgroundCan interactive apps promote parent-child conversations?
Rowe, M. L., Turco, R. G., & Blatt, J. H. (2021) · Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2021.101326 · Cited by 26
How Virtual Personal Assistants Influence Children’s Communication
Bylieva, D. S., Bekiroğulları, Z., Lobatyuk, V. V., & Nam, T. (2021) · Lecture notes in networks and systems · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-65857-1_12 · Cited by 21
Lin, G. C., Schoenfeld, I., Thompson, M., Xia, Y., Uz-Bilgin, C., & Leech, K. A. (2022) · ACM International Conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC) · doi:10.1145/3501712.3529734 · Cited by 19
“The study echoes the findings from an experimental design study, where parents randomly assigned to use their phones as much as possible at a museum felt less connected to their children [22].”
ResultFood for Thought: Parent-Child Face-to-Face Communication and Mobile Phone Use in Eateries
Elias, N., Lemish, D., & Rovner-Lev, G. (2021) · Journal of Family Communication · doi:10.1080/15267431.2021.1953501 · Cited by 22
“…literature has linked parental technoference with a poorer quality of parent-child interaction and with a possible negative influence on children’s social, emotional, and cognitive functioning (Kildare & Middlemiss, 2017; Kushlev & Dunn, 2019; McDaniel & Radesky, 2017; Myruski et al., 2017).”
BackgroundZhang, P., & Wang, X. (2025) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-025-02363-2 · Cited by 18
“…phubbing occurs, the mobile phone distracts parents’ attention from their children, which leads to a decrease in positive parent–child interactions [46], and some parents may respond negatively, incorrectly, or even out-rightly ignore their children’s needs, which triggers young children’s…”
Nawaz, S., Bhowmik, J., Linden, T., & Mitchell, M. (2024) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e24832 · Cited by 24
Zurcher, J. D., King, J., Callister, M. A., Stockdale, L., & Coyne, S. M. (2020) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2020.106498 · Cited by 25
Effects of Parents’ Smartphone Use on Children’s Emotions, Behavior, and Subjective Well-Being
Selak, M. B., Merkaš, M., & Žulec, A. (2025) · European Journal of Investigation in Health Psychology and Education · doi:10.3390/ejihpe15010008 · Cited by 28
Young Children’s Social Interactions with Parents during Digital Activities at Home
Konca, A. S., & Erden, F. T. (2021) · Child Indicators Research · doi:10.1007/s12187-020-09800-1 · Cited by 17
Smartphones within Psychological Science
Ellis, D. A. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108671408 · Cited by 14
Zhang, J., Madigan, S. L., & Browne, D. T. (2022) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2022.107324 · Cited by 14
Cultural differences in perceiving co-present phone use as phubbing: Evidence from six countries
Büttner, C. M., Albath, E. A., & Greifeneder, R. (2025) · Social Influence · doi:10.1080/15534510.2024.2447275 · Cited by 15
“…in face-to-face social interactions depends on the subjective construal of the situation: For instance, while phubbing disconnects people (e.g., Kushlev & Dunn, 2019; Przybylski & Weinstein, 2013), screen sharing where the phone is part of the conversation may not be perceived as exclusionary…”
Stević, A., Schmuck, D., Karsay, K., & Matthes, J. (2021) · International journal of communication · Cited by 13
Denecker, F., Marez, L. D., Ponnet, K. S., & Abeele, M. V. (2022) · Mobile Media & Communication · doi:10.1177/20501579221134168 · Cited by 12
Misirli, A., Fotakopoulou, O., Δαρδανού, Μ., & Komis, V. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1613625 · Cited by 29
Hiniker, A., Froehlich, J. E., Zhang, M., & Beneteau, E. (2019) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3290605.3300238 · Cited by 12
“A number of well-honed techniques allow researchers to collect data in the wild, including diary studies ( e.g. , [43, 62]), experience sampling ( e.g. , [45, 56]), and passive data logging ( e.g. , [54, 55]).”
BackgroundThe power of Dionysus—Effects of red wine on consciousness in a naturalistic setting
Costa, R. M., Madeira, A., Barata, M., & Wittmann, M. (2021) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0256198 · Cited by 14
Pesch, A., Todaro, R. D., Piper, D. J., Evans, N. S., Josh Pasek, B., Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsh‐Pasek, K. (2024) · Mobile Media & Communication · doi:10.1177/20501579241246726 · Cited by 10
“…& O ’ Donnell, 2019; Vanden Abeele et al., 2016) and negatively impacts interaction quality, producing feelings of social exclusion and lower conversational intimacy (Chotpitayasunondh & Douglas, 2018; Dwyer et al., 2018; Kushlev & Dunn, 2018; McDaniel et al., 2018; Vanden Abeele et al., 2016).”
The four conceptualizations of social connection
Baek, E. C., Pourafshari, R., & Bayer, J. (2025) · Nature Reviews Psychology · doi:10.1038/s44159-025-00455-9 · Cited by 16
Validation of a revised parental phubbing scale for parents of young children in China
Li, J., Jiang, Y., Xiao, B., Wang, J., Zhang, Q., Zhang, W., & Li, Y. (2024) · Early Child Development and Care · doi:10.1080/03004430.2023.2283693 · Cited by 9
“For example, Kushlev and Dunn (2019) indicated that parental phubbing as a risk factor would lead to negative parenting behaviours, such as less attention, companionship, responsiveness, and communication.”
BackgroundMcDaniel, B. T., Radesky, J. S., Pater, J. A., Galovan, A. M., Harrison, A., Cornet, V. P., Reining, L. E., Schaller, A., & Drouin, M. A. (2024) · Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies · doi:10.1155/2024/3601969 · Cited by 11
Kim, E., Jo, J., & Song, M. K. (2023) · Journal of Pediatric Nursing · doi:10.1016/j.pedn.2023.08.013 · Cited by 9
Smartphones undermine social connectedness more in men than women: A mini mega-analysis.
Leitao, M., Proulx, J. D. E., & Kushlev, K. (2024) · Technology Mind and Behavior · doi:10.1037/tmb0000125 · Cited by 8
Puligheddu, A., Porru, A., Spanò, A., Cataudella, S., Mascia, M. L., Rollo, D., Cabras, C., Penna, M. P., & Lucangeli, D. (2025) · Children · doi:10.3390/children12081022 · Cited by 9
“Studies increasingly examine how parental phubbing undermines emotional connections between parents and children, leading to reduced parental sensitivity, responsiveness [10] and feelings of closeness [11].”
Bientzle, M., Restle, A., & Kimmerle, J. (2021) · JMIR mhealth and uhealth · doi:10.2196/25717 · Cited by 11
Parent and Child Screen Use and the Effects of Phubbing
Błachnio, A. (2024) · The Journal of Pediatrics · doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2024.114227 · Cited by 7
Gu, Q., & Zhao, M. (2025) · Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.3390/bs15020203 · Cited by 7
“Deterioration in interpersonal dynamics precipitates child discontentment and subsequent relational conflicts (Kushlev & Dunn, 2019).”
Kelly, K. R., Maloles, C., George, N., Neves, S., Hsieh, B., & Ocular, G. (2023) · Computers in Human Behavior Reports · doi:10.1016/j.chbr.2023.100296 · Cited by 7
Halfmann, A., Wolfers, L. N., & Meeus, A. (2024) · Mobile Media & Communication · doi:10.1177/20501579241252098 · Cited by 6
“Within the family context, this means that smartphones are often used while parenting (Kushlev & Dunn, 2019; Radesky et al., 2014), which has given rise to both public and scholarly concerns about the impact of these behaviors on children (Wolfers et al., 2020).”
Huda, M., & Salem, S. A. M. (2022) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/s1537-466120220000030004 · Cited by 6
Greater mobile device-prompted phone pickups are associated with daily parent stress
Munzer, T. G., Miller, A. L., Weeks, H. M., Kaciroti, N., & Radesky, J. (2024) · Acta Paediatrica · doi:10.1111/apa.17260 · Cited by 5
McDaniel, B. T., Uva, S., Pater, J. A., Cornet, V. P., Drouin, M. A., & Radesky, J. S. (2024) · Frontiers in Developmental Psychology · doi:10.3389/fdpys.2024.1421717 · Cited by 7
“Drivers of parent phone use around young children include connecting with others, fulfilling parenting needs, getting a break from caregiving duties, and relieving stress (Kushlev & Dunn, 2019; McDaniel, 2019; Radesky et al., 2016; Torres et al, 2021; Wolfers, 2021).”
The Effects of Smartphones on Well-Being: Theoretical Integration and Research AgendaPreprint
Kushlev, K., & Leitao, M. (2020) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/fs6zq · Cited by 5
“Indeed, across a variety of social situations—from spending time with one’s children [29] to sharing a”
BackgroundKaranlık Sosyal Medya ve Sosyal Medyanın Karanlık Yüzü: Kavramlar, Araştırmalar ve Stratejiler
Erdoğan, İ. (2022) · Türkiye İletişim Araştırmaları Dergisi · doi:10.17829/turcom.1048522 · Cited by 4
Nie, J., Ni, X., & Lei, L. (2024) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-024-06817-5 · Cited by 4
“This finding is consistent with existing research on the impacts of parental phubbing or technoference on adolescents (e.g., Dong et al., 2023 ; Geng et al., 2021; Kushlev & Dunn, 2019; McDaniel, 2019; McDaniel & Radesky, 2018; Nie et al., 2024 ; Wang et al., 2022 ).”
Relationship between parents’ problematic internet use levels and child abuse potential
Ünverdi, S., & Karabudak, S. S. (2024) · Children and Youth Services Review · doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.108060 · Cited by 4
Mateu-Luján, B., Gràcia, X. G., García, M. B., & Labra, J. A. P. (2023) · Educación XX1 · doi:10.5944/educxx1.33158 · Cited by 4
A családi minta fontossága – szülő és gyermek médiahasználata a COVID-19 idején
Prievara, D. K., & Nádudvari, G. (2023) · Iskolakultúra · doi:10.14232/iskkult.2023.1-2.93 · Cited by 4
The Effects of Mobile Device Use and Presence on Perceptions of a Conversation Partner
Caplan, S. E., & Courtright, J. A. (2023) · Western Journal of Communication · doi:10.1080/10570314.2023.2202798 · Cited by 4
“Parents also feel less connected and more distracted when using devices while spending time with their children (Kushlev & Dunn, 2018).”
BackgroundThe UBC State Social Connection Scale: Factor Structure, Reliability, and ValidityPreprint
Lok, I., & Dunn, E. W. (2022) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/5jesn · Cited by 4
Dinzinger, A., Greif, E., Speyer, L. G., Wittling, R. A., Brisch, K. H., Priewasser, B., & Marková, G. (2025) · Infancy · doi:10.1111/infa.70056 · Cited by 3
“In addition to compromising the quality of parental attention and sensitivity of responses, parents report reduced feelings of social connectedness with their children (Kushlev and Dunn 2019).”
AlNamlah, L. A., Konswa, A. A., Alakeel, R. A., & Taieb, H. A. E. (2026) · Discover Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12982-026-01479-z · Cited by 6
Phone presence and relationship quality: Examining the role of emotion accuracy and bias
Heyman, J. L., & Human, L. J. (2024) · Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · doi:10.1177/02654075241227591 · Cited by 6
“Phone presence has indeed been associated with more negative experiences due to reduced attention quality (Dwyer et al., 2018; Kushlev & Dunn, 2019; Kushlev et al., 2019) or cognitive capacity (Kushlev & Leitao, 2020; Przybylski & Weinstein, 2013).”
BackgroundNie, J., Ni, X., & Lei, L. (2024) · Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2024.101679 · Cited by 3
Correa-Rojas, J., Muchotrigo, M. P. G., & Moyano, E. N. C. (2022) · African journal of rhetoric · doi:10.21134/haaj.v22i2.691 · Cited by 3
Did smartphones enhance or diminish well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Heyman, J. L., & Kushlev, K. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1094196 · Cited by 3
“Similarly, smartphone interference has been shown to be related to lower levels of well-being (David et al., 2015; Kushlev et al., 2016; Roberts and David, 2016; Kushlev and Dunn, 2019).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialSaeed, M., & Ali, R. (2025) · The Family Journal · doi:10.1177/10664807241312200 · Cited by 4
Obeidat, M. S., & AL-Shalabi, F. H. (2025) · Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science · doi:10.1080/1463922x.2025.2506425 · Cited by 2
“Research suggests that access to the internet can bring about shifts in the social landscape, creating distance between parents and children, and leading children to emulate their parents by devoting time to mobile phones (Kushlev and Dunn 2019).”
Chang, L., & Zhang, H. (2025) · Psychology in the Schools · doi:10.1002/pits.23579 · Cited by 2
“This disruption of expectations not only affects emotional well ‐ being but can also trigger anxiety in adolescents, which has been highlighted in previous research (Kushlev and Dunn 2019; Miller ‐ Ott and Kelly 2015).”
Alemdar, D. K., & Çatıker, A. (2025) · Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services · doi:10.3928/02793695-20250821-02 · Cited by 2
Sultan, A., Bühler‐Niederberger, D., & Nasrullayeva, N. (2023) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/978-1-80382-283-920231014 · Cited by 2
Parents’ Views on Mobile Phone Use
Abels, M., Augustson, A., & Klepaker, P. T. (2024) · Psihologijske teme · doi:10.31820/pt.33.1.11 · Cited by 2
“However, others feel that they are less connected or inattentive to their children when they are also using their phones (Hiniker et al., 2015; Kushlev & Dunn, 2019).”
BackgroundAdult family members’ roles in mediating children’s visits at a Chinese science museum
Ji, J., Anderson, D. P., & Rodewald, P. (2025) · Museum Management and Curatorship · doi:10.1080/09647775.2025.2467705 · Cited by 2
“Kushlev and Dunn (2018) observed that frequent smartphone use by parents led to social disconnection, impacting family interactions.”
Influential
Metadata
- Authors
- Kushlev, K., & Dunn, E. W.
- Affiliations
- University of Virginia (US)
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Kushlev, Kostadin
- Venue
- Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2018-04-10
- Volume
- 36
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1619-1639
- ISSN
- 0265-4075 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-3608
- OpenAlex
- W2796972396
- Cited by
- 162
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 29 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 47.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Social and Personal Relationships (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (H08–02739)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Child Development and Digital Technology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Demography › Family Dynamics and Relationships
- Keywords
- smartphone use, parental distraction, parent-child relationship, social connectedness, face-to-face interaction, social media use, science museums
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
