'There's less talking now': readers on how smartphones altered family life

Madonna said giving her children mobile phones 'ended their relationship'. We asked parents to share their own experiences

Has giving my child a phone changed my relationship with them? It's meant fewer dinners together, and less inclination to share in conversation; greater irritability and less ability to self-regulate or find meaningful non-phone related activities to participate in. Many activities are done with the phone as meditating entity and spatial registry. The phone enhances the need for immediate mediation or gratification. Daniel, US