Technoference: Five Hours of Phone Time With a Baby in the Room

There's a name for the small, everyday technology-related interruptions that disrupt in-person interactions: “technoference.” The interesting question is what happens when the person seeking attention is a small child and the person looking at a screen is their parent. One recent US study found that parents spent an average of five hours a day on their phones while they were with their babies. That figure is an average across parents, not a claim about any particular household — but as a description of how much of the shared moment sits behind a screen, it is a striking place to start thinking about the word.