Do Cellphones Go Hand in Hand with Parenting in Today’s Society?

By Ana Borden

This past week, I brought our youngest to our neighborhood library for storytime. As I sung along with him “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes,” I realized more than half of the guardians were interacting with their phones, in lieu of their little ones.

Our ever-so-patient librarian’s voice creeped higher over screams, little fingers kept reaching for the sample art project and a couple of toddlers were climbing over each other. At that moment, it dawned on me that it was a different scene nearly a decade ago bringing my oldest.

So have cell phones changed the way we parent and interact with our children?

My initial response is, “Yes!”

Is the cell phone actually teaching us to communicate and interact less verbally and accept new social norms, for example: not listening, avoiding eye contact and showing disrespect to others?

But do the conveniences of this handheld device, knowledge and connectivity at the tips of our fingertips outway our society’s new social norms?

What are some other positive and negative effects of the digital world?