Princess of Wales has a suggestion for parents: please hang up.
Kate, as she is commonly known, collaborated with adult development researcher Robert Waldinger to warn that technology is contributing to an epidemic of disconnection that is harming family relationships. Devices that promise to keep us connected often do the opposite, says an essay published on the website of the Royal Foundation's Early Childhood Centre.
“We sit together in one room while our thoughts are scattered across dozens of apps, notifications and channels,” the authors write. “We are physically present but mentally absent, unable to fully interact with the people right in front of us.”
The princess did early child development one of its main reasons. Now she's teamed up with Waldinger, who is the director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, a long-term study of adulthood and happiness that has concluded that people with stronger relationships are more likely to live happy, fulfilling and healthier lives.
“Look into the eyes of the people you care about and be completely there – because that's where love begins,” they said.
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