Causes of Parent–Child Conflict over Adolescents’ Use of Electronic Devices and Multi-Actor Collaborative Countermeasures

Electronic devices are now central to adolescents' learning, social life, and leisure, and disputes over their use have become a leading source of parent–child conflict, with consequences for both family harmony and adolescent mental health. This review moves beyond the usual “problem-correction” framing and re-examines such conflict through two lenses: intergenerational power interaction and family-system synergy. Drawing on adolescent developmental-stage theory, family systems theory, and the strengths perspective, and on 29 sources published between 2014 and 2024, the paper analyses how these conflicts arise and what sustains them. It argues that conflict is better read as a signal of shifting family power boundaries than as a simple self-control failure, and outlines differentiated, multi-actor directions for response—spanning family negotiation, school digital-literacy education, platform accountability, and policy support—rather than one fixed protocol. The aim is to shift the conversation from controlling the device to rebuilding the relationship.