Ambivalence and adaptation : a qualitative analysis of parental smartphone use from postpartal period to toddlerhood

As part of the Smart Toddler Study, we conducted qualitative interviews with 27 mothers and 26 fathers one and three years after the birth of their first child. These interviews explored how smartphone use was embedded in everyday caregiving, family dynamics and social context. The findings reveal a profound ambivalence: On the one hand, smartphone use is associated with guilt as parents worry about distraction from caregiving, reinforcing norms of uninterrupted parental presence. At the same time, smartphones serve as a tool for managing parental work, providing communication, entertainment and relief from routine care demands such as breastfeeding. The interviews also reveal gender and class inequalities: Mothers face greater scrutiny and tend to use smartphones primarily for caregiving and organisational tasks, while fathers' use is more tied to work and leisure, reproducing gendered divisions. Moreover, highly educated parents show a strong tendency to frame their use as deliberate and reflective, distinguishing their practices from what they perceive as less cultivated digital practices. These findings call for a structurally embedded perspective on parental smartphone use that moves beyond individualising discourses of distraction. Future research should further explore the interplay of agency, social stratification and normative frameworks, while professional discourse should address the symbolic and emotional dimensions of digital parenting.