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@article{183586,
        author = {Varshaa Balasubramanian and Swayam Jammula and Joshita Sunkari},
        title = {“Tech-Free Time: Can ‘Digital Detox Hours’ Improve Parent-Child Emotional Quality?”},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {12},
        number = {3},
        pages = {2497-2504},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=183586},
        abstract = {Digital technology has transformed the way we live, work, and communicate. Although digital devices and internet platforms bring ease, access to information, and instant messaging, they have unknowingly affected the quality of human relationships—family relationships in particular. The round-the-clock screen glows tend to overshadow true conversations, diminishing emotional presence and shared moments between parents and children.
Here, the intentional practice of carving out "Tech-Free Hours" presents itself as an emotional countermeasure to digital overload. This essay examines how the daily creation of screen-free moments will bring back substantial parent-child interactions. Through qualitative interviews, observation learning, and survey answers by families that have incorporated daily digital detox into their routines, the study finds significant shifts in the emotional life of these families.
Findings of particular importance show that digital-free time boosts eye contact, facilitates more in-depth conversation, and leads to a deeper feeling of emotional presence. Such times become active spaces for shared laughter, stories, cooperative play, and emotional check-ins—experiences that strengthen family bonds. Surprisingly, the study indicates that temporary digital abstinence can spark lasting gains in relational harmony, proposing that connectivity may not have to be digital in order to matter.
This article promotes incorporating tech-free hours into daily family life as a simple and low-cost solution to foster emotional closeness in the age of technology. It strongly suggests that the greatest connections are sometimes the ones with no signal whatsoever, just presence.},
        keywords = {Digital detox, Tech-free hours, Parent-child connection, Emotional presence, Family communication, Screen time reduction},
        month = {August},
        }