Article Review: Smartphone Use and Language Development
How often do you catch yourself mindlessly picking up your phone?
Telling yourself that you just need to quickly check your e-mail or send that one text. Before you know it, you’re still on your phone 15 or 30 minutes later.
We’re all guilty of it. Last Sunday, I took a break from social media. It was so interesting to see how many times I caught myself mindlessly opening Instagram or Facebook throughout the day without even thinking about it. That thumb sure has a motor plan for those frequently used apps, making it all too easy to get sucked into more phone use than anticipated.
Theresa Rodgers, the president of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) recently wrote an opinion piece for USA Today on the detrimental impact parental smartphone use has on language development. Rodgers equates parental smartphone use to secondhand smoke.
So much of early language development stems from how a parent responds to their child - imitating a child’s early sounds and vocalizations, reading together, engaging in reciprocal social routines (e.g., peek-a-boo), providing expectant pauses, narrating everyday routines as well a child’s nonverbal communication attempts, modeling early play skills, and expanding upon a child’s early words.
The list goes on and on. The common theme? A parent needs to be present and attending to their child rather than their phone to be able to provide a language rich environment. A parent likely misses dozens of opportunities to comment on what their child is playing with when mindlessly scrolling for 10 minutes on their phone.
The statistics on parental phone use in the USA Today article were astonishing:
A recent YouGov poll commissioned by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association found that among parents with children ages 8 or younger, 95% say their tech use interferes with daily opportunities for talking, playing and interacting with their child without distraction at least a little.
We all need to be more aware of our use of electronics, especially when thinking about the language development of young children. Some strategies that I find helpful when trying to reduce my screen time include:
Put your phone in another room. Out of sight, out of mind! The temptation to pick up your phone and use it will definitely decrease if it’s not right next to you.
Turn your phone on “Do Not Disturb.”
Carve out time for phone use when your child is napping or after they go to bed.
Delete apps off your phone.
Log out of apps on your phone. Sometimes the extra hassle of logging in or trying to remember one of your 20+ passwords will be enough for you to set your phone down.