Over the last several years, many researchers in early childhood education have focused on the amount of screen time that children receive each day and how it may affect their learning or development. But, what about the amount of time that a parent or caregiver spends in front of a screen while playing with a child? How might a parent’s distraction by a cell phone affect a child’s learning?

Those are the questions explored in a new study by University of Delaware alumna Caroline Gaudreau (PhD. in education) of the University of Chicago, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek of Temple University and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Unidel H. Rodney Sharp Chair and professor in the School of Education and the Departments of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Linguistics and Cognitive Science. The study, titled “What’s in a Distraction? The Effect of Parental Cell Phone Use on Parents’ and Children’s Question-Asking,” has been published in Developmental Psychology.

In a study with 57 preschoolers, Golinkoff and her coauthors found that children’s and parents’ interactions changed significantly when parents were engaged in completing a survey using a cell phone. Compared to a group of participants without a survey, these children and their parents asked fewer questions of each other during playtime.

Since question-asking behavior is a critical part of a child’s learning, this study offers insight into how parental cell phone use may affect their child’s development.

Children’s question-asking

Toddlers and preschoolers ask questions to learn about the world around them, exploring topics such as the natural world, tools, machinery and more complicated concepts like cause and effect. As research has shown, question-asking allows children to direct their own learning, identify the information they seek and remain engaged with the toy, story or lesson at hand. During preschool, children also learn how to ask questions to solve problems or seek help.

Similarly, parents often use questions as a teaching tool, encouraging their children to explore or to check on their understanding of a new concept. In fact, parents’ questions play an important role in their children’s learning even during their children’s infancy. For example, researchers have studied parents' interactions with their 10-month-old children while reading. They found a link between how often these parents asked questions and their children's later language development. As children grow, parents’ questions also serve as a model for information-seeking behavior and how to ask effective questions.

“Asking and answering kids’ questions is very important for their learning,” said Golinkoff, who also serves as the director of UD’s Child’s Play, Learning and Development Lab. “We know that parents who ask more questions and give fewer ‘orders’ have kids with better language development.”