Parents obsess with mobile messaging and ignore their kids

Parents obsess with mobile messaging and ignore their kids, reports the WSJ, spawning a generation of resentful children. ''As hand-held email devices proliferate, they are having an unexpected impact on family dynamics: Parents and their children are swapping roles. Like a bunch of teenagers, some parents are routinely lying to their kids, sneaking around the house to covertly check their emails and disobeying house rules established to minimize compulsive typing. ... Children fearful that parents will be distracted by emails while driving, concerned about Mom and Dad's shortening attention spans and exasperated by their parents' obsession with their gadgets. Some mental-health professionals report that the intrusion of mobile email gadgets and wireless technology into family life is a growing topic of discussion in therapy. ... Parents need to recognize that some situations require undivided attention. When you shut off the device, she says, You're communicating nonverbally that 'you matter and what's important to you is important to me.