Parents, relax! Putting your phone ahead of your kids isn’t always bad

Don't fret too much about the impact of 'technoference' on your children - they can take a bit of vital parental texting in their stride

I have written before in this column about how the use of information technology by children affects their psychology and socialisation, but I have not given much thought to the way the use of that same technology by their parents can also have an effect.

Now a study in the Journal of Child Development suggests that "technology-based interruptions in parent-child interactions" - a phenomenon know as "technoference" - can also have a negative effect on children. This amounts to parents having their attention drawn away from their offspring by constantly accessing their phones and other devices. I have often seen this outside the school gates - parents, tapping at their phones while their children try to talk to them.