Device-free dinners are a healthy choice

It may seem obvious that eating dinner with your family is a good thing. Research provides plenty of support for the importance of family dinner for kids: Learning vocabulary, fewer behavior problems, less substance abuse, and healthier eating are some of the positive outcomes.

But how is family dinner changing in response to the massive technological changes in American society? To find out more about how families are managing devices during family dinner, Common Sense Media commissioned a poll of nearly 900 families with children between the ages of 2 and 17 years old. Here’s what we found: ›

Family dinner is an institution. Seventy percent of families eat dinner together five or more times a week. ›

Dinner is a time for sharing. Almost all (93 percent of) parents think conversations at family dinners are important for talking about things happening in their children’s lives. ›

Devices aren’t welcome but often have a seat at the table anyway. Even though previous research has found that 88 percent of adults don’t think it’s OK to use a phone at a family dinner, 47 percent of parents said they or a family member used a mobile device at dinner in the last week. Thirty-four percent said they had the TV on for all or most dinners.

For families whose dinners involved a device, parents felt conflicted: ›

A majority (51 percent) of parents said mobile devices made them feel disconnected from their families. ›

Over half (58 percent) were concerned that devices were hurting their conversations. ›

A third (35 percent) said mobile devices at dinner caused arguments. ›

And yet, 61 percent of parents thought mobile devices helped bring families together through sharing content, such as pictures, videos, or posts.

So, when you have a family dinner, commit to putting devices away for those 30 minutes (or, if you have small children, the six minutes of dinner). Turn your devices on silent. Better yet, put them somewhere where you can’t see them and where a notification won’t tempt you to check it.

Enjoy a device-free dinner as part of a healthy digital lifestyle, and make the most of family time.