@therealdrpsychmom: You can’t tell your teenager to put down their phone while staring at your own. “Phubbing” means ignoring or disengaging from someone in front of you because you’re focused on your phone. In a two-wave study of 1,252 Chinese adolescents, paternal phubbing was associated with later emotional symptoms through the teens’ own problematic smartphone use. This doesn’t mean Dad checking an email causes depression, or that mothers’ phone habits don’t matter. The study was observational, relied on adolescent reports, and focused specifically on fathers. But it does raise a bigger point: Kids may copy the disconnection, not just the screen time. Family phone rules are more credible when they apply to everyone. Put the phone down during conversations. Look up when your child enters the room. Show them that the person in front of you matters more than whatever is happening on the screen. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451958826003696

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Tuesday 08 September 2026 19:15:00 GMT