Parents are on devices during family meals even more than their kids, study says

Jun 16, 2026 - 22:00

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Once the school pick-up routine begins in the afternoon, it can feel like mental arithmetic getting everyone to the right place at the right time: One child has math tutoring from 2 to 4 p.m., and then its straight to soccer practice from 4:30 to 7. The other has dance class from 5 to 8 p.m., and then the whole family isnt home until after 9 p.m. And then somewhere in there, you were supposed to eat Taco Tuesday leftovers together as a family.

When families consistently share meals, experts say, they enjoy an abundance of benefits such as improved emotional satisfaction and healthier diets but finding the time to sit down together every night can sound like a tall order.

Even for those families that manage to make a shared meals a reality, the pervasive use of media like smartphones and TVs during mealtimes is yet another factor that hampers connection.

According to a new study that surveyed over 350 parents, more than 75% reported media use during their last family meal, with the most common type being smartphone use. Additionally, the parents reported that their children whose ages ranged from 4 to 10 were almost as likely to have used media, with nearly 70% of children also engaging in some form of media use. The findings were published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

Media use is finding its way into our lives more than we may realize, said Cecilia Sada Garibay, a co-author on the study and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Arizona. Sada Garibay hopes that with this in mind, parents will be more aware of how their devices may be affecting their most personal relationships: the ones they have with their children.

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If you have your device and youre constantly checking it at the table, it can affect a valuable moment parents have with their children in the day, and it can have some effect on the relationship they have with their children, said Sada Garibay, who is also a professor at the School of Communication in the Universidad Panamericana studying social media effects.

Researchers have established that when families consistently sit down together to eat, the whole family reaps experiences numerous benefits, including healthier eating, lower risk of substance use among teenagers and greater emotional satisfaction.

But according to Sada Garibay and other experts, the mealtime on its own is not the magic ingredient to these benefits.

What makes family dinner so beneficial?

Some benefits associated with family dinners are related to the food on the table, such as lower rates of obesity. But when it comes to the emotional benefits, its actually not whats at the meal at all that matters, said Dr. Margie Skeer, a public health and community medicine professor in the Tufts University School of Medicine who researches how family meals can protect adolescents from a slew of dangers.

Its that family meals can provide a built-in space for checking in, sharing feelings, emotions. Its consistent family connection, said Skeer, who was not involved with the new research. Plus, when parents make the time to connect with their children at distraction-free family dinners, the kids realize that theyre actually being prioritized, because we do live in a very busy world.

Sada Garibay recognizes that time can be in short supply for parents: I know; I have four children. But in her view, this means it is more important than ever to find the time for family dinners.

Dr. Anne Fishel, an associate professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and director of Massachusetts General Hospitals Family and Couples Therapy Program, founded the Family Dinner Project in 2010 to educate parents on how they can gain the benefits of family dinners amid busy schedules.

According to Fishel, who was also not involved with the new research, mealtimes are the most reliable opportunity many families have for daily connection.

Also shared mealtimes are a ritual that creates an anchor, predictability, and a sense of identity, she said in an email. Rituals are as comforting and welcome to adults as they are to children.

Different types of media use, different outcomes

The new study examined the rates of individual and paired media use for parents and children, as well as the types of media use that the subjects were engaging in.

No forms of media consumption are the same, Sada Garibay said. Large-screen media use is more likely to include parents and children watching the same thing together, which can offer chances for connection in ways that individual phone or tablet use does not, she said.

For example, watching Jeopardy! together during dinner could provide ample opportunities for families to bond, Sada Garibay said. But what she saw in the study did not suggest widespread family movie nights but rather widespread individual smartphone use.

What is changing is this fact that this shared experience, shared media use, is being substituted by individual media use, Sada Garibay said. Now each member in the table, they can be together, but each one is doing something absolutely different to the others.

When family dinners are interrupted by smartphone dings or kids glued to their tablets, Sada Garibay and other experts noted, some of the benefits of the family dinner can be diminished.

Not one-size-fits-all: How to adapt family mealtimes

The 2025 World Happiness Report found that from 2003 to 2023, the rates of dining alone in the United States have continued to grow across age groups, with about 25% of adults in 2023 eating all of their daily meals alone.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, when many families were spending more time at home together, Fishel saw a resurgence in the prevalence of family dinners.

Census data from 2022 shows that nearly 85% of parents were frequently sharing meals with their children, and Skeer says she still sees many families prioritizing the practice.

But with young people scheduled in demanding extracurricular activities, parents working multiple jobs and the constant presence of distracting devices like smartphones, it is important to remember that the practice does not have to be all or nothing, Skeer said.

A family meal can be as simple as a shared snack

Even just standing at the kitchen counter together, sharing a bag of chips and asking your child one on one how theyre doing, can be a chance to connect.

If youre a parent or guardian or caregiver, anyone whos raising a child, and you had five minutes every day where you literally were sitting or standing and looking at each other and talking to each other and having a daily check-in, that would give a lot of benefit, too, Skeer said.

Try one undistracted meal a week

Finding the time for just one dedicated family meal a week putting away the phone for 20 to 30 minutes during breakfast, lunch or dinner could be worth it when the nightly affair is simply not going to happen.

The frequency of shared mealtime seems to confer the nutritional benefits, but the quality of the time around the table is what fosters the emotional and psychological benefits, Fishel said in an email. So, even one delightful, positively anticipated family meal a week can bring well-being, a shared sense of belonging, and connection.

Take advantage of technology to facilitate connection

With media use seemingly inescapable in the home, some families might find that a mindset of if you cant beat them, join them could work best. For example, family movie nights during dinner can offer easy, conflict-free bonding time for families, Skeer said.

Anytime you can build in those moments to connect, its going to be better in the long run, Skeer said.