A study published in Child Development Magazine evaluated 170 families with at least one child of three years. This is the crucial stage at which children develop emotional, linguistic, social, and behavioral abilities.

Researchers asked parents to take note the number of times when they were interrupted to respond to messages or calls on their mobile device while being with their kids.

11% said that it never happened, 17% said that it occurred just once per day, 24% that it occurred twice per day, and 48% revealed that time with their children was interrupted three or more times per day.

Among the most revealing conclusions is the fact that researchers found that the more distractions occur, the more behavioral problems were seen among the children, such as tantrums, aggressive reactions, and annoyance.

Plus, other studies done by AVG Technologies concluded that 42% of children (4 out of every 10) think that their parents spend more time with their cell phones than with them. Worst of all is that children end up normalizing these behaviors and mirroring them to the point of becoming addicted to their cell phones, just like their parents.

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And you? Do you pay enough attention to your children or are you more concerned with notifications from your cell phone?

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