Are Offline Meals Healthy Meals? A Field Experiment to Promote Healthier Eating in Families

First research findings suggest that the influence of digital media on children's and adolescents' health depends primarily on proper use and regulation. In line with Social Cognitive Theory, parents' own mobile device use is very important to regulate children's media use because parents are their children's role models. However, parents do not always behave as optimal role models: They use smartphones on playgrounds, in restaurants, as well as during family mealtimes. This usage of mobile devices leads to interruptions during face-to-face conversations or routines which is defined as "technoference". Studies among children and parents suggest that parental mobile device use is associated with fewer parent-child interactions. In addition, first studies investigated mobile device use at the dining table and showed that mothers had less interactions with their children during meal times when they used a mobile device compared to mothers who did not and their children were also less likely to try new and unfamiliar food. Along the same lines, lower parental mobile device use during mealtime is also associated with healthier body weight in children. AIM: Examination of the effect of a time out from smartphone use during a family meal on the parent-child interaction at the meal table and eating quality in comparison to family meals where participants use the smartphone as usual. DESIGN: The study is a within-family field experiment with daily assessments over 14 days (7 days for the experimental condition, 7 days for the control condition). Families will go through both, intervention and control condition with a break of 21 days in between. The assessment of the main and secondary outcomes is conducted at the baseline, over a 14 day daily diary phase and at the follow-up (directly after the daily diary phase). The sample will consist of 120 families with at least one child between the age of 6 to 14 years old. Only the participating adult in the study fills in the quest