Parents provide bad examples on mobile devices

The McCook school board spent a couple of hours talking about the purchase of iPads for every high school student, a quarter-million-dollar investment for 500 of the ubiquitous tablet computers, before finally approving the plan.

There were plenty of good questions, many of them concerns about just how responsible students would be while using the expensive devices with Internet access.

According to a new study, however, it may not be the kids we should worry about.

Boston Medical Center observed 55 families dining at local fast food restaurants, and found parents of 40 of the families absorbed in their mobile devices.

Instead of engaging their children in conversation, they were spending their time swiping messages and typing into their smart phones and tablets -- almost a third of them continuously throught their meal.

Some kids seemed to be used to the behavior, but others reacted in ways to get their parents' attention.

One set of siblings resorted to singing "Jingle bells, Batman smells."

It's a sad commentary on modern life that electronics are robbing families of the best time for parents to connect with children, especially when parents are the ones breaking the connection.

Only time will tell whether iPads live up to their promise as an important educational tool.

It's reassuring, in a perverse sort of way, however, that providing iPads to students is unlikely to upset patterns of family behavior that are already in place.