Distracted driving. Distracted Walking. And now… Distracted Parenting.
Some are saying that Distracted Parenting is having a direct correlation on the rise in injuries and emergency room visits for small children. An article that I recently found is full of information about how our technology devices really do “distract” us.
I know how I often think I’m capable of “multitasking”. After reading this article – I’m not so certain.
Here are some interesting excerpts.
Ira Hyman, a professor at Western Washington University who specializes in human memory and cognition, contends that mobile devices are more distracting for parents than radio, conversation and other outside-the-home diversions of yesteryear. Scientists aren’t exactly sure why, he says, but when a person is using a device, “you can have something pass directly in front of you and your eyes may see it but it doesn’t really enter your awareness.”
Psychologist Kathy Hirsh-Pasek of Temple University recently had students observe 30 parents and their children in public places. In almost every case, she says, the parent interrupted an activity with the child to use a device. “In one case a parent let go of her kid’s hand in the middle of a big street in Philadelphia in order to check a text message,” she says.
This article is another great reminder of the importance (and safety) of good-old-fashioned “face-time”.
