Children can surely be a hand full for parents. Thus de-stressing from juggling routine chores, helping offspring with school activities and providing them with as healthy an environment as possible is a must for parental sanity. There are numerous ways parents choose to unwind yet currently the most popular remains the surfing of social media. However, while were busy enjoying the latest Justin Bieber memes — this innocent ‘break’ has grown into an out-of-control beast. While there have been numerous studies on the negative impact of excessive screen time on the mental and physical health of the youth — it is only recently that researchers have turned their attention towards the impact of parents’ excessive screen time on children. The overwhelming conclusion seems to be this: it negatively affects children worse. Those in the field of child psychiatry and addiction warn of growing evidence that children are finding their parents pre-occupation with communications technology increasingly distressing. It is not hard to understand that parents’ responsiveness towards both surroundings and children changes when they are using technical gadgets. And it is this that negatively impacts a child’s mental growth and behaviour. It makes the children feel rejected and neglected at the same time. According to researchers, in cases where parents use technology and social media during family time — the children tend to display signs of behavioural issues. They feel unimportant and perceive the need to compete with technology to get their parents’ attention. On top of this, the dependency on screens has striking similarities to alcoholism according to experts. Children take cues from their parents and it is only natural for them to justify their own extensive usage of devices. The need to balance technology while ensuring gadget-free family time has never been more important. The social media revolution has brought with it many things, including the world right into the palm of our hands. Yet this addiction is producing a generation of mentally isolated, unhappy and insecure children. It is time to kick this habit. *