Family mealtimes offer a venue to connect and share stories from the day. Sometimes this family time helps everyone to leave behind stress from the outside world. Sometimes it introduces new stresses like sibling squabbles. Always it holds the opportunity for meaningful modeling around balanced eating and the importance of the social elements of dining, and to attend to children’ s eating routines. For youth with eating disorders, family meals are an essential element of treatment.
These days, phones now seem to show up at the table along with family members. With our phones glued to our hands and an increasing distraction, we would do well to wonder if the meaningfulness of mealtimes is changing.
Scientists are now especially interested in how phone use is associated with eating disorders. More specifically, a recent study sought to discover potential links between phone use during mealtimes – for both children and parents – and binge eating habits.
What is binge eating?
Binge eating is defined by eating a clearly large amount of food in a short period, while experiencing a loss of control. If these eating episodes occur frequently, a diagnosis of binge eating disorder may be appropriate. Bingeing is often associated with feelings of shame and guilt, and many who struggle with binge eating disorder commonly describe hiding their eating from others.
How might parental attitudes about eating, weight, and body shape impact their parenting?
Children are impacted by their parents’ preferences, attitudes, and behaviors in all kinds of ways. Concerns about eating, weight, or an overfocus on appearance are no exception. Studies have shown that how both mothers and fathers communicate about food and weight influences children’ s behaviors and thoughts related to eating and body image. Unsurprisingly, if the parent themselves is actively experiencing symptoms of an eating disorder, she or he may be more inclined to comment on their child’s eating habits or have more conflict during mealtimes. This is referred to as weight-focused parenting.
Study Specifics
The environment during family mealtimes can be anxiety-inducing for people with eating disorders and their loved ones. Because there is a debate surrounding whether phone use can contribute to or help ease the stress of eating disorders during mealtime, this study examined
- how much parents and children use phones during meals,
- what their motivations were for doing so, and
- whether related to the prevalence of binge eating and parenting practices.
Methods
210 parents participated in this study. They completed several surveys, which asked about:
- Eating behaviors of the parents and children,
- Typical parenting styles,
- The use of “weight talk” (any comments made about weight, shape, and body size) by parents,
- Frequency of family meals, and
- Frequency of phone use during family meal times and motivations to do so.
Findings
Results from this study clarify the different ways phone use is impactful at mealtimes. Overall, mealtime phone use by parents corresponded to phone use by children. For example, approximately two-thirds of children whose parents used phones at the meal also used them.
In addition:
- There was a positive association between binge eating behaviors and phone use for parents and for children.
- Parents reported using their phones to share “a positive moment,” manage emotions, or cope with parenting stress.
- Parents with binge eating were more likely to describe using their phones specifically to manage emotions and stress.
- Use of phones at mealtimes – specifically to manage emotions and stress – appeared to track with weight-talk and weight-focused parenting.
What does it all mean?
Results from this study underscore the extent to which parents serve as important role models for their children’s behavior, especially when it comes to the use of screens. It is also possible that parent phone use at mealtimes corresponds with child phone use at these times because children are finding a way to occupy themselves while their parent is on a screen.
This study also begins to unpack why parents turn to their phones at the dinner table. By understanding that parents turn to their phones sometimes to manage emotions and stress, we can begin to wonder if there are ways to provide help with these things through the phone or by other means. For those with binge eating, maybe technology can be used to deliver some help and enhance mindfulness of eating behavior in the moment of the meal.
To read more about the study described above, check out:
Lydecker, J. A., Dunford, & Deierlein, K. (2026). Family Meals in the Digital Age: Associations of Parent and Child Mealtime Phone Use With Disordered Eating. International Journal of Eating Disorders 59(6): 1387–1393.
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