“Research demonstrates that phones are eroding our ability to communicate in face-to-face dialogue and reducing family conversation,” Saunders Medlock says. “Gone are the days of sitting together at a table and asking the simple question of ‘how was your day?’ But that should not be the case.”
She advises parents to set time aside, where no mobile phones or other devices are present, just to spend quality time together as a family.
“Playing old school interactive games as a family is a way to have family fun time,” she says. “And of course any outdoor family activity is important. It is hard to use a mobile phone and go on a hike or a bike ride.”