August 21 (London): Almost half of today’s parents (43%), a new research finds, have “no idea” how their parents or grandparents reared their children before the widespread availability of cellphones.
The survey, conducted by OnePoll.com and Three UK, found that parents rely extensively on their cellphones when it comes to taking care of their kids.
A total of 1,000 parents with kids younger than six participated in the research.
About 61% of respondents said cellphones are the most useful tool in parenting, and 77% said they use their phones up to 77 times a week to look up information on how to take care of their children.
Parents often use their cellphones to do kid-related shopping, the survey found.
We’re well aware of how crucial mobile devices are to modern society. According to the study results, “your phone becomes a critical addition to your family,” as stated by Aislinn O’Connor, the Marketing Director at Three UK.
“playing the role of entertainer, doctor, connector, and much more in everyday life,” she continued.
Furthermore, the survey discovered that data usage has increased as a direct consequence of the proliferation of cellphones.
Nearly 34% of parents said they had to boost their data plans because of their children’s increasing phone use. The typical parent still uses five times their monthly allotment of data.
This rise in data use may be attributed in part to parents downloading media for their children.
One of the most major data drains was found to be the downloading and streaming of material for youngsters, with an average of 12 hours per week spent on these activities.
Most parents (around 67%) use their phones mainly for taking photographs, 62% find sending WhatsApp messages enjoyable, and 60% check the weather forecast at least once a week on their cellphones.
