New research has found that children want parents to practice what they preach and turn off their smartphones.
The study which was conducted by University of Washington interviewed 249 families with children aged between 10 and 17 about their digital use.
Sadly, the results found that most of these children want Mum and Dad to take a break from technology at some point during the day. They also wanted them to moderate their use and do more “real-world” activities.
Talking about how parents should model good digital behaviour, lead researcher Alexis Hiniker, a University of Washington doctoral student in human design, said: "Managing kids' technology use was once much easier for parents - they switched off the television when a show was over or kept an eye on kids as they used the family computer in the living room.”
"But now that so many family members have phones with them at all times, it's become harder and harder to set those boundaries."
The research also found that the children involved in the study wanted their parents to let them make their own decisions about where and when they should use their phones.
"It's easier for kids to accept and stick to that rule than when they say 'You can be on Instagram but you have to put it away at dinner',” said Hiniker.
"As a teenager, I think I would have been happier in a world where I got to be on Instagram at least some of the time, but that really seemed to be a struggle for families."
