Professor Peter Fonagy tells MPs that adults set the tone for children’s technology use and should model face-to-face conversation instead of criticising a so-called “snowflake generation”.
Parents should keep mobile phones off the dinner table and make a point of talking to their children face to face, according to Professor Peter Fonagy, who told MPs that adults set the tone for how young people use technology. Speaking to the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee, Fonagy said it was “appalling” to see grown-ups absorbed in their screens at mealtimes, arguing that children learn behaviour by watching the adults around them.
Fonagy, who heads the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences at University College London and has recently led a major review of ADHD, autism and mental health conditions, said parents can help curb excessive social media use among children by cutting back themselves. He said it was easier to criticise young people than to acknowledge the pressures they face, adding that adults should be more encouraging and less harsh in the way they speak about them.
His remarks came alongside a wider warning that many ordinary forms of childhood socialising have been weakened by constant phone use. Fonagy told MPs that young people today face heavier stress, less support and fewer opportunities to build the kind of everyday friendships that previous generations took for granted. He linked that strain not only to smartphones and social media, but also to wider pressures including insecure work, high rents, educational demands and persistent comparisons online.
The Independent reported that Fonagy also took aim at the phrase “snowflake generation”, calling it an insult and urging older generations to recognise their own role in shaping the current environment. His comments were echoed by research cited in HealthDay and Medical Xpress, which found that excessive smartphone use by parents may be associated with anxiety, attention problems and hyperactivity in children aged nine to 11. A review published in Computers in Human Behavior similarly found that parental device use can disrupt parent-child interaction and reduce sensitive, responsive parenting, while a study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health suggested that mobile phones can function as a form of withdrawal during mealtimes.
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