With so much focus on children ’s use of screens, it&39;s easy for parents to forget about their ownscreen use. “Tech is designed to really suck on you in, ” says Jenny Radesky in her study play,

Radesky has studied the use of mobile phones and tablets at mealtimes by giving mother-child pairsa food-testing exercise. She found that mothers who sued devices during the exercise started 20percent fewer verbal and 39 percent fewer nonverbal interactions with their children. During aseparate observation, she saw that phones became a source of tension in the family. Parents wouldbe looking at their emails while the children would be making excited bids for their attention. Infants are wired to look at parents’ faces to try to understand their world, and if those faces areblank and unresponsive—as they often are when absorbed in a device－it can be extremely7disconcerting foe the children. Radesky cites the “still face experiment ” devised by developmentalpsychologist Ed Tronick in the 1970s.

In it, a mother is asked to interact with her child in a normalway before putting on a blank expression and not giving them any visual social feedback; The childbecomes increasingly distressed as she tr ies to capture her mother ’s attention. "Parents don&39;t have tobe exquisitely parents at all times, but there needs to be a balance and parents need to be responsiveand sensitive to a child ’s verbal or nonverbal expressions of an emotional need," says Rade sky. On the other hand, Tronick himself is concerned that the worries about kids&39; use of screens are bornout of an “oppressive ideology that demands that parents should always be interacting children: “It’s based on a somewhat fantasized, very white, very upper-middle-class ideology thatsays if you’re failing to expose your child to 30,000 words you are neglecting them.”

Tronickbelieves that just because a child isn ’t learning from the screen doesn ’t mean there －particularly if it gives parents time to have a shower, do housework or simply have a break fromtheir child. Parents, he says, can get a lot out of using their devices to speak to a friend or get somework out of the way. This can make them feel happier, which lets then be more available to theirchild the rest of the time.

26.According to Jenny Radesky, digital products are designed to ______.

A.simplify routine matters

B.absorb user attention

C.better interpersonal relations

D.increase work efficiency

Radesky’s food -testing exercise shows that mothers ’ use of devices ______.A.takes away babies ’ appetite

B.distracts children ’s attention

C.slows down babies ’ ver bal development

D.reduces mother-child communication

Radesky’s cites the “still face experiment ” to show that _______.A.it is easy for children to get used to blank expressions

B.verbal expressions are unnecessary for emotional exchange

C.children are insensitive to changes in their parents ’ mood