A new survey is showing that 4 in 5 parents think that digital devices are making it harder to parent than ever. Motherhood and parenting were never promised to be easy, and a lot of mothers find out the hard way that being a mom was not exactly what they had pictured when they were either growing up or pregnant with their first baby. A lot of moms try and find ways to make parenting easier, but it just seems to be getting harder and harder. This means that we need to start looking at what specifically is making it harder to see if there is anything to be done about lifting the burden.
According to Study Finds, the vast majority of parents feel that digital devices play a large part in making parenting harder now than it ever has been in the past. This was shown through a survey of 2,000 American parents that was done by OnePoll, on behalf of Smith Micro Software.
- The survey found that 4 in 5 parents believe that it is harder to raise children now in 2021 than it ever has been in the past.
- When asked further, they found that 8 in 10 parents feel that the reason it is more challenging is because of the role that technology plays in their lives.
It is no secret that technology and devices can be consuming, and while there are some benefits of these advancements, there are also downfalls to look at.
- A further 86% of parents said that technology has made their children grow up fast than they have in the past.
- This could be because the average parent gives their child their first internet-connected device at 7 years old.
- A further 23% said that they give their child access to the internet between the ages of 3 and 5 years old.
It cannot go unnoticed that the pandemic has played a part in how parents are feeling, because parents have relied on technology a lot throughout the pandemic as they have tried to navigate working from home and trying to occupy their children. On average, children are now spending 43% of their free time on some sort of device. Parents have said that they have taken the time to explain Internet safety to their children, and while that is reassuring, this could be a reason why parenting is seen as “harder,” because these are worries and conversations that the older generation of parents did not have on their plate.
Sources: Study Finds, OnePoll, Smith Micro Software