Passive sensing of mobile media use in children and families: a brief commentary on the promises and pitfalls

In my work with families, screen use and the management of screen use are frequent concerns I hear from parents and families. Additionally, I have strived to help parents realize that their focus should not only be on their children’s screen use but also on how their own use while around their children impacts their parenting and their children (e.g., refs. ^1,2,3). Many parents and families feel as if they are drowning in a flood of media use and devices while others are unaware of the impact of their use. Anecdotally, many parents tell me they feel they use their phone too much. Furthermore, in my research, I often utilize self-reports, which for years I have suspected might result in the underreporting of use and technology distractions. In fact, much of the research on media use relies on self-reports. Thus, there has been a need for something better, something closer to the reality of individuals’ and families’ media use, and passive sensing of device and media use—like was done by Yuan et al.⁴—is a promising direction.

In line with my above intuition, Yuan et al.⁴ found that most parents are not accurate reporters of their phone use. Not only could this prove to be a problem for research but also for prevention and interventions. For instance, it could mean that many of the findings that rely on self-reports of media use could be suspect, with effects being stronger (or weaker) than they currently appear in the published research. Additionally, if individuals are asked to report on their phone or other media use in therapy, medical, or other clinical settings, their answers may unintentionally misrepresent what is occurring in their life, potentially leading to interventions that are not well-fit to the individual’s or family’s actual media use. Yet, although passive sensing could give us more accurate information on individuals’ actual use, only research can tell us which type of data will be most useful for predicting outcomes. It would be important for researchers to determine whether actual use or self-reports (individuals’ perceptions) best predict outcomes over time for individuals, children, and families.

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