[andreliem]

That's definitely the modern day problem! Can't believe how often you go to playgrounds and a parent is on their phone the entire time. It makes me self conscious every time I need to use my phone for something important, as I don't want to be that parent although I have been in the past. I removed the Facebook app from my phone and that's helped, among removing push notifications, putting it on silent etc... phone addiction is a real problem, as is social media consumption.

[baldfat]

My city was 95% of the parents just on phones till this year. Now the vast majority of us parents are actually playing with our kids. Serious kids are the best thing I have ever had in my life and they are a blast. Sometimes they really know how to humble you but it is so worth it. (Dad of 5)

[andreliem]

That's really cool!

[zby]

When you are on a safe playground you don't need to watch your child all the time. I read books at that time.

[andreliem]

Oh yeah I'm not really concerned about safety, I'm assuming parents are being responsible in that regard. My concern is social interaction, and parents staring at their phones and not even interacting with other parents. I get not all people like to socialize all the time, and finding alone time to read a book is rare as a young parent... but it's nice to just chat with people and put the phones away. I'm an introvert by nature so I like alone time.

If a parent is reading a book, I totally respect that! You don't see lots of people walking and reading a book everywhere they go, staring at a book to avoid social conversation, or unable to put it down for more than 6 minutes... phones just seem to takeover the brain, like TV but worse.