Drop the phone: New campaign asks parents to cut their own screen time

A new campaign is encouraging parents to drop their phones and take a digital diet from all forms of technology when the kids are around in an effort to positively impact kids' mental health.

The Langley Infant Mental Health collaborative has partnered with supporters to launch a public awareness campaign called Talk to Me, Play with Me, Carry Me — #mywellbeingstartswithyou.

Cora Boecker is one of the co-creators. She said a lot of kids are developmentally delayed and not as emotionally connected as they should be by the time they enter the education system.

While Boecker said it's hard to attribute this solely to more cellphones, she said research done by her group has shown an increase in developmental delays in kids since the rise of the cellphone.

"We're all quite attached to our screens and they're quite powerful. We hear the bing and we have to look," Boeker said

The bing can wait, our children's development cannot.- Cora Boecker,  Langley Infant Mental Health collaborative

A few tips from the campaign

Boecker agrees every child's needs are different, but she encourages mothers to not be anywhere near their phone while breastfeeding.

Instead, she encourages eye-to-eye contact and interaction with the baby as they feed.

The awareness campaign also encourages parents to choose natural play over baby equipment, and to take children out of car seats or strollers whenever possible.

Parents respond to screen-time campaign

Elisia Preston is a mother of two young boys and said the campaign definitely gives her something to think about. But, she doesn't necessarily agree with it.

As a busy mother, educator, wife, and more, she said she has to be able to connect to the other aspects of her life, too.

While breastfeeding, for example, she said she does spend the time playing with her son, holding his hand, and interacting.

But Preston also said it gets to a point where he's not looking at her and doesn't need her attention, so she resorts to what decompresses and refreshes her, even if it's her phone.

"You notice when they're feeding they're not staring at you [or] looking at you the whole time. It's also a time when I'm sitting down and I can't do anything. So, it's a time where I can sit and look at my phone and refresh," Preston said.

Boecker said in instances like this she encourages parents to maintain the no-technology method. 

"If we're on our screen and our baby looks at us, we miss those cues and then we're less likely to communicate with them," Boecker said.

Jahan Gulamani is the mother of an 11-month-old.

She said she takes an 80/20 approach to technology near her daughter.

She and her husband have decided to remove technology from their daughter's view because of the worries around screen time's impact on her vision, as well as the interruption to the young girl's development.

Gulamani said it sometimes feels impossible to drop the phone entirely, but she thinks the campaign is necessary to tell parents about the dangers of too much screen time.

I want her to be a part of my conversations and I don't recall ever leaving her in a stroller.- Jahan Gulamani

Boecker said the awareness campaign isn't aimed at shaming busy parents, but she hopes it serves as a reminder that kids' early years are irreplaceable and formative.