Role reversal: Children often begging parents to put phones away, alarming survey reveals

A common stereotype these days is the concerned parent demanding their child or teen put down their smartphone for some quality family time. Well, surprisingly, a new survey of 2,000 U.S. parents of school-aged children (ages 5-18) has revealed that half of respondents have been asked by their own child to put their phone away.

At least, it seems, many parents are aware that this is an issue; 62% of surveyed parents admitted that they spend too much time on their phones while in the presence of their children.

The survey, commissioned by child play foundation The Genius of Play, also found that a staggering 69% of parents feel “addicted” to their smartphones. In fact, most parents are so enthralled with their pocket-sized devices that they only spend 24 minutes more per day with their children as they do with their phone! On average, respondents spend two hours and 17 minutes on their phone each day, and two hours and 41 minutes of screen-free time with their children on a daily basis.

Despite the excessive amount of time many parents spend on their phones, 74% of respondents reported frequently worrying that their child spends too much time in front of screens. On a similar note, 65% of surveyed parents have instituted some type of limit on their child’s daily screen time. Still, on average, respondents said their children usually spend around two hours everyday staring at a screen.