Parent Mobile Phone Use in Playgrounds: A Paradox of Convenience

Creating social and physical environments that promote good health is a key component of a social determinants approach. For the parents of young children, a smartphone offers opportunities for social networking, photography and multi-tasking. Understanding the relationship between supervision, mobi...

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Main Authors: Bury, Keira, Jancey, Jonine, Leavy, Justine
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/82728
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author Bury, Keira
Jancey, Jonine
Leavy, Justine
author_facet Bury, Keira
Jancey, Jonine
Leavy, Justine
author_sort Bury, Keira
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Creating social and physical environments that promote good health is a key component of a social determinants approach. For the parents of young children, a smartphone offers opportunities for social networking, photography and multi-tasking. Understanding the relationship between supervision, mobile phone use and injury in the playground setting is essential. This research explored parent mobile device use (MDU), parent-child interaction in the playground, parent attitudes and perceptions towards MDU and strategies used to limit MDU in the playground. A mixed-methods approach collected naturalistic observations of parents of children aged 0-5 (n = 85) and intercept interviews (n = 20) at four metropolitan playgrounds in Perth, Western Australia. Most frequently observed MDU was scrolling (75.5%) and telephone calls (13.9%). Increased duration of MDU resulted in a reduction in supervision, parent-child play and increased child injury potential. The camera function offered the most benefits. Strategies to prevent MDU included turning to silent mode, wearing a watch and environmental cues. MDU was found to contribute to reduced supervision of children, which is a risk factor for injury. This is an emerging area of injury prevention indicating a need for broader strategies addressing the complex interplay between the social determinants and the developmental younger years.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-827282021-03-16T07:52:03Z Parent Mobile Phone Use in Playgrounds: A Paradox of Convenience Bury, Keira Jancey, Jonine Leavy, Justine Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Pediatrics social determinants children child-play mobile phone injury supervision DEVICE USE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS CHILD-DEVELOPMENT YOUNG-CHILDREN SUPERVISION HEALTH PLAY Creating social and physical environments that promote good health is a key component of a social determinants approach. For the parents of young children, a smartphone offers opportunities for social networking, photography and multi-tasking. Understanding the relationship between supervision, mobile phone use and injury in the playground setting is essential. This research explored parent mobile device use (MDU), parent-child interaction in the playground, parent attitudes and perceptions towards MDU and strategies used to limit MDU in the playground. A mixed-methods approach collected naturalistic observations of parents of children aged 0-5 (n = 85) and intercept interviews (n = 20) at four metropolitan playgrounds in Perth, Western Australia. Most frequently observed MDU was scrolling (75.5%) and telephone calls (13.9%). Increased duration of MDU resulted in a reduction in supervision, parent-child play and increased child injury potential. The camera function offered the most benefits. Strategies to prevent MDU included turning to silent mode, wearing a watch and environmental cues. MDU was found to contribute to reduced supervision of children, which is a risk factor for injury. This is an emerging area of injury prevention indicating a need for broader strategies addressing the complex interplay between the social determinants and the developmental younger years. 2020 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/82728 10.3390/children7120284 English http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ MDPI fulltext
spellingShingle Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Pediatrics
social determinants
children
child-play
mobile phone
injury
supervision
DEVICE USE
SOCIAL DETERMINANTS
CHILD-DEVELOPMENT
YOUNG-CHILDREN
SUPERVISION
HEALTH
PLAY
Bury, Keira
Jancey, Jonine
Leavy, Justine
Parent Mobile Phone Use in Playgrounds: A Paradox of Convenience
title Parent Mobile Phone Use in Playgrounds: A Paradox of Convenience
title_full Parent Mobile Phone Use in Playgrounds: A Paradox of Convenience
title_fullStr Parent Mobile Phone Use in Playgrounds: A Paradox of Convenience
title_full_unstemmed Parent Mobile Phone Use in Playgrounds: A Paradox of Convenience
title_short Parent Mobile Phone Use in Playgrounds: A Paradox of Convenience
title_sort parent mobile phone use in playgrounds: a paradox of convenience
topic Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Pediatrics
social determinants
children
child-play
mobile phone
injury
supervision
DEVICE USE
SOCIAL DETERMINANTS
CHILD-DEVELOPMENT
YOUNG-CHILDREN
SUPERVISION
HEALTH
PLAY
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/82728