Kids mimic parents' smartphone addiction pattern: study

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A recent study has revealed that nearly 80 percent of children whose parents are heavily dependent on smartphones also exhibit similar patterns of excessive use, affecting their daily lives and causing anxiety when deprived of their devices.

The study, published in the latest issue of the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs' journal, Sunday, analyzed the correlation between smartphone dependency in sixth-grade children and their parents. The research utilized responses from 2,229 sixth graders and their parents, categorized into low, average and high dependency groups.

Smartphone dependency was assessed through a four-point scale across 15 questions, such as the impact of excessive smartphone use on work or school performance, difficulty in concentrating, feelings of loss without a smartphone, restlessness and habitual extensive use.

The results showed that among parents, 33.9 percent had low smartphone dependency, 49.5 percent had average dependency, and 16.6 percent had high dependency. Among the children, 36.4 percent were classified as having low dependency, 40.3 percent as having average dependency, and 23.3 percent as having high dependency.

The study found a significant correlation between parental and child smartphone dependency. Specifically, when parents had high smartphone dependency, an overwhelming 78.6 percent of their children also exhibited high dependency on smartphone devices. In contrast, only 11.8 percent of these children had average dependency, and just 9.7 percent had low dependency.

The researchers emphasized that reducing children's smartphone dependency requires parents to also limit their usage. They suggested that early smartphone experiences for children should be guided by parental education and recommended the development and dissemination of family-oriented online educational materials.

The study also found a strong link between children's smartphone dependency and the parent-child relationship, as well as the parents' economic status. Children exhibited lower dependency levels when parents had positive parenting attitudes, spent more time with their children, engaged in frequent conversations and perceived their economic status as high.