All parents recognise this problem: your child spends too much time on their phone, but what can you do about it? Should you ban it? Monitor it via apps on their phone? Keep their phone under lock and key? No phone at all? This Radboud Sci-fly discusses the factors that influence your child’s phone use, but also the influence your phone use has on your child.
Internet addiction is a serious threat to children’s development, and parents have an important role to play in preventing it. It is important for parents to monitor their children’s internet use and discuss it with them, but this monitoring can also make the internet addiction worse. This may sound confusing: it is all about the important role of the bond between you, the parent, and your child. If this bond is strong, the child is more likely to view this monitoring as positive, but if your bond is weaker, for whatever reason, the child is more likely to view it as negative rather than positive.
RESEARCH METHODS
WHAT? Can parental control have a positive influence on children’s internet addiction on the one hand, while at the same time also having a negative influence?
WHO? 8,182 (12-18 years old) middle and high school students in seventeen different provinces in China.
HOW? Students from Beijing Normal University sent online questionnaires to schools obtained through the Beijing Normal University Education Group or through local organisations. Both the schools and the students were selected at random.
RESULTS
- Children whose parents closely monitor their phone use will reduce their internet addiction, but if that supervision feels too strict or controlling, it will actually create distance between parent and child. This can cause the child to reach for their phone even more.
- The bond between parent and child is the most important factor. If this bond is strong, conversations and control over internet use will be better received.
- However, it is important that the parent is not addicted to the internet themselves. Children see their parents as role models and are more likely to follow their example than the rules set by their parents.
Figure: Phone usage of child
DICUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
One area for improvement in this study is that the research was only conducted in China. It would be interesting to know whether these results apply to multiple cultures or only to Chinese culture. In addition, we know nothing about differences between age groups, because all children were considered as a single group.
So, talk to your child about how they feel about the control and discussion of their internet use, and be mindful of your own phone use when you are around your child.
DETAILS
Zhang, S., Fang, Z., Qi, X., & Yuan, Y. (2025). Parental mediation and adolescent internet addiction: The role of parent-child relationship and parental internet addiction. Acta Psychologica, 259, 105316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.1053164
This sci-fly was written by Jurre van der Kooij for the course Recent Developments in Risk Behaviour, Master PWO, 2025.
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