The Commission seeks to better understand the impact a parent’s use of technology has on child development outcomes so that we can continue to improve the lives of women in the State of Alabama as well as their families. As a result of the pandemic, the study that began in 2019 was postponed and adapted, with the final report made available the first of 2022. Key Findings are below along with the full report that is available for download
Overall, the data from this study showed that mothers spend a significant amount of time each day engaged with technological devices, especially smartphones. Mothers indicated that resisting the urge to check their smartphone was difficult, that they were prone to overusing their smartphone, and that the smartphone regularly interrupted interactions they had with their young child. Notably, these were true across various demographic subgroups within the sample (e.g., low- vs. high-income households, female vs. male child, etc.) Interestingly, mother’s beliefs about their smartphone use did not always match their actual use, as when those who agreed that they used the smartphone “too much” logged fewer minutes than those who disagreed. The data also showed that higher levels of smartphone use by mothers corresponded to lower levels of some social, cognitive, and behavioral characteristics in their children and to lesser interactions during free play.