Smartphone Technology on Family Interaction Patterns

Abstract

Smartphones have gone mainstream across the globe, India alone has added almost 900 million mobile broadband connections from 2014-2024 and 80% of urban households have smartphone(s). The present study explored the role of the smartphone in the lives of urban Indian families in Lucknow in terms of its changes in family interactions. According to the study which was carried out in eight Indian cities, 69% of kids and 73% of parents said that their family's main source of conflict was the overuse of their smartphones. A study in Gujarat, India with 15–19-year-old children revealed that 64.6% were smartphone addicts and that authoritarian and permissive parenting were positively correlated with addiction and stress. Techno Ference' or technology interference refers to any instances in which digital media intrude and disrupt the parent-child relationship 68% of parents say they are distracted by their smartphone when spending time with their children. It was descriptive cross-sectional design using 400 family units of Lucknow. Excessive smartphone use was found to have a significant impact on the quality of face-to-face interaction, verbal communication, and children's behavioral problems. Structured parenting strategies and technology free family areas came up as successful intervention solutions to reestablish family bonding.

Keywords: Smartphone technology, Family Interaction, Technoference, parenting Stress, Behavioral Outcomes