Weaning off the 'electronic pacifier' : a study on family play and internet dependency in children

Abstract

Aims: Amongst the large number of studies on prevention and intervention for Internet addiction, very few targeted preschool and young children. Play is essential to children’s physical, social and psychological development. By parents actively participating in children’s play activities, children switched their attention from problematic Internet use to healthy play activities that promotes all-rounded development. At the same time, parent-child play fosters positive affection between parents and their children, which is a key protective factor that influences Internet addiction. The objective of this study is to conduct a randomized controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of an app-assisted play intervention, as preventive measure tailors for young children, for the reduction of children’s internet dependency. Secondary outcomes included improvement of parent-child relationship and increase in parent-child playtime. Methods: 114 parents with children aged 4 to 10 in Hong Kong were randomised to either intervention group (n = 58) or control group (n = 56). Both groups viewed a series of online psychoeducation videos on the benefits of face-to-face play. A smartphone app plaily was introduced to the parents in the intervention group to further facilitate parent-child play. Among those recruited, 87 parents (intervention n = 44; control n = 43) completed the instruments Chinese version of Parent-Child Internet Addiction Test (PCIAT-C) and Chinese version of Child-Parent Relationship Scale – Short Form (CPRS-SF-C), and reported their daily average playtime with their children pre-intervention and 3 weeks after the intervention. Results: Results from two-way mixed model repeated measures ANCOVA revealed that parents in intervention group perceived significantly greater reduction in children’s internet dependency (β = -0.25, p = 0.03) and significantly greater improvement in closeness of their parent-child relationship (β = 0.24, p = 0.03) than did the control group. However, both groups reported reduction in parent-child playtime post-intervention. Conclusions: Introduction of plaily as part of the play intervention resulted in significantly greater reduction in children’s internet dependency and greater improvement in parent-child relationship. These findings suggest that plaily-assisted play intervention is an effective measure for prevention of Internet addiction in young children.