Parents are just as stressed as their children because they are often preoccupied and distracted by their constantly beeping cell phones, according to a study by the University of Michigan Medicine.

Working parents find that their mobile devices offer many benefits – but the daily digital notifications on their screens also cause anxiety, the study finds.

The study’s findings come at a time when many school districts are pushing to ban students from accessing their distracting cell phones during the school day.

According to the study, parents received an average of nearly 300 mobile notifications per day between 2020 and 2021.

The parents participating in the study picked up the phone an average of 93 times a day.

“We know that parents of young children are often multitasking,” said lead author Tiffany Munzer, a developmental and behavioral pediatrician at University Health Mott Children’s Hospital. “The disruptions caused by screens have further exacerbated the challenge of responding to multiple demands at once.”

“Parents often have to juggle parenting and personal life with work and other obligations at the same time. It’s understandable that feeling distracted by the phone can cause additional stress,” Munzer said.

The study included 62 parents of 62 children aged 4 to 6 years and took place during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The average age of the parents was 37 years.

The study found that parents received more notifications and answered the phone more often than in previous studies. The researchers believe this is due to increased media use during the pandemic and the need to potentially follow relevant news.

Stress was higher on weekdays, suggesting that the content of the notifications may also have triggered parents’ stress, said lead author Jenny Radesky, also a behavioral pediatrician.

“This may be particularly true in the context of multitasking between work and the demands of home or online schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.

“Nevertheless, these findings give us insight into how distractions caused by phone demands can impact parents’ everyday stress.”

Stress is the price parents pay for owning a high-tech smartphone that connects them to virtually everything at all times, researchers say.

“We’re all familiar with that inopportune ringing on our phone. Sometimes it’s just annoying, but it can also be the crucial message we’ve been waiting for, even if it wakes us up or disrupts our concentration,” said Dr. Marschall Runge, CEO of Michigan Medicine and vice chair of medical affairs at the university.

“In today’s constantly connected world, there is an expectation to be available 24/7, but this constant connectivity comes at a cost: distraction, stress and even depression,” Runge said.

However, the doctor said the opposite could be worse: that people would freak out because they no longer have access to their phone.

“For many, not having access to their phone, a condition known as nomophobia, is even more stressful,” he said.