<![CDATA[Parenting in the digital era presents an increasingly complex challenge managing gadget addiction in school-age children while simultaneously meeting occupational and relational demands. This qualitative study employed a phenomenological approach to explore the lived experiences of four parents of gadget-addicted elementary school-age children: two dual-income couples and two single-income families where only the father worked. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis framework. Six major themes emerged: (1) layered physical and emotional exhaustion; (2) parental guilt and ambivalence; (3) helplessness in enforcing digital limits; (4) coping strategies employed by parents; (5) preventive approaches to gadget use; and (6) differential coping resources based on family structure. Findings indicate that dual-income parents experienced more severe digital parenting fatigue due to compounding occupational and caregiving demands, while single-income families, though also stressed, possessed greater availability to implement preventive and engagement-based strategies. These findings suggest that effective support programs for digital parenting fatigue must be structurally sensitive tailored to parents’ occupational conditions, with dual-income families requiring workplace-integrated relief strategies and single-income families benefiting from structured parental engagement programs.]]>
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