Parental Digital Engagement and the Parent–Child Relationship: A Qualitative Study of Children’s Perspectives

This study examines primary school–aged children’s perceptions of their parents’ digital media use and its effects on children’s emotional experiences, psychological well-being, and the parent–child relationship. As digital technologies become increasingly embedded in everyday life, parents’ attention directed toward mobile devices can interrupt parent–child interactions, a phenomenon referred to as technoference. Adopting a qualitative, phenomenological design, this study explores how children experience and interpret parental digital engagement in daily family contexts. The participants consisted of 22 children aged 8–11 attending public schools in Türkiye and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and a metaphor sentence completion technique and analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. The findings reveal that children frequently describe parental digital media use through metaphors such as “barrier,” “wall,” “monster,” and “time thief,” and associate these experiences with feelings of sadness, loneliness, frustration, and worthlessness. Parental digital engagement was also found to negatively affect children’s basic psychological needs, including belonging, trust, attention, and feeling valued. However, children did not completely reject digital media use; rather, functional, context-appropriate, and shared use was perceived as acceptable. Overall, the findings suggest that digital parenting is experienced by children not only as a technological behavior but as a relational and emotional process. By foregrounding children’s perspectives, this study contributes to the literature by highlighting the importance of parental digital awareness, balanced use, and emotionally responsive interaction in supporting children’s well-being.