We all know smartphones can be pretty engrossing, even to the point of distraction. YouTube is full of clips showing people smacking into walls or falling into fountains because they’re so busy texting or playing Candy Crush. Yet a new study from Yale University suggests some parents are spending so much time with their phones that they’re not paying close attention to their kids.

The Yale study finds that emergency room visits for children under the age of 5 went up about 10 percent between 2005 and 2012, just when smartphones were becoming ubiquitous. Moreover, those ER visits only went up in a given community when it got 3G.

Still, it’s not as if parents have forsaken parenting for Words with Friends. According to Craig Palsson, author of the study, “Only 6.4 out of every 1,000 parents of children 5 and under who use a smartphone experience an injury.” Meanwhile, the injury rate involving automobiles is about 10.6 for every 1,000 drivers. (Slate)

Paul Asay has written for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for PluggedIn and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He recently collaborated with Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, on his book The Good Dad. He lives in Colorado Springs with wife, Wendy, and his two children. Check out his entertainment blog or follow him on Twitter.