May I Have Your Attention

In 1975, psychologist Edward Tronick carried out the famous “still face” experiment, which demonstrated how infants search their caregiver’s face for cues to “connect.” A recent video that reproduces the dynamics of the study shows a mother and baby interacting with animated expressions. Then the mother turns away for a few moments. When she turns back, she remains expressionless, avoiding eye contact with the child.

At first the child attempts to attract her attention by rerunning the interactive behavior. When that doesn’t work, the child becomes agitated and begins to cry. Within three minutes, the infant is slumped in despair. The mother isn’t absent, but neither is she “there.” It’s a nearly perfect demonstration of what screens do to parent-child interaction.¹

Small children display the same kind of behavior when their parent is engrossed with a device: They attempt to engage the parent’s attention. If that