I'm as guilty as the next person.
I scan my social media every chance I get. I kid myself that it is 'for work', but after eight hours in the office even I realise that that excuse sounds trite.
It was when I noticed I was getting extra frustrated with the children if I was interrupted during my digital splurge that I knew it was time for a change.
We are now undergoing a part-time digital detox at home with phones put away as much as possible until the children are in bed. It is not easy, but it means I am much more focused on the children's activities and get involved. From their point of view, they don't feel that mum finds a chunk of technology in her hand a whole lot more interesting than them.
It turns out that our obsession with the Internet is having a profound effect on our children's behaviour.
Worse still, children whose parents have their nose in their phone all the time feel unimportant. Which is really heartbreaking.
A new study by paediatric professors at the University of Michigan has also found that mums and dads who frequently use digital technology are much more likely to have kids who act out.
Texting or scrolling through Instagram during playtime can make children feel rejected and contribute to their sudden outburts.
The research from the University of Michigan and Illinois State University found parents who became distracted by devices were more likely to have disruptive kids.
Author of the study, Jenny Radesky says that even a short break in conversation to jump online can make your child misbehave.
'It's really difficult to toggle attention between all of the important and attention-grabbing information contained in these devices, with social and emotional information from our children, and process them both effectively at the same time."
How do we warn our children not to spend too much time on screen-time when we have our heads buried in our phone all the time? How can we justify missing out on all these precious moments that we are oblivious to while online?
There has been a rise in the number of people seeking help for digital addiction. It is also no secret that the psychological impact caused by other digital platforms that are focused on image and validation can have a very damaging effect on our self-esteem.
It is harder to recognise our obsession as being a negative thing because there is currently no stigma behind it - everybody is doing it.
Interestingly, a study by Ohio State University found that Facebook is one of the most negative sites for a new mum's mental health. It found that mums who had recently given birth had elevated depressive symptoms after going online to the networking hub.
It's believed that newbie mamas seeking external validation for the new mothering identity felt they were falling short in the battle to reconcile their online identity with their actual identity.
What do you think? Is it time for a family-wide digital detox? Have you noticed your children's behaviour is better if you put down that phone?
