Aaron Paul says one question from his daughter showed him his phone was sabotaging his relationships

'Breaking Bad' star Aaron Paul confessed that his daughter helped him realize how his phone was affecting their relationship — something we all need to hear. During an interview with The Wall Street Journal (@wsj), Aaron recounted an incident where he unknowingly ignored his daughter and what led to the heartbreaking realization. The discussion was shared as a reel on WSJ's Instagram page on November 6, 2025.

"I try not to use my phone in front of my kids," Aaron said, but well, this wasn't always the case. In fact, he recalled how he'd once ignored his 6-year-old daughter to reply to an urgent email. His daughter had come running to him to ask something, but Aaron didn't pay attention as he was busy on his phone. When the little girl realized Daddy wasn't paying attention, she stopped asking and went back to playing. The "Need for Speed" actor noticed it and immediately realized his mistake. "I put my phone down, and I went to her, and I go, you know, 'I want to say I am sorry for not being responsive to you,'" he recalled.

Aaron promised his daughter that he would never be on the phone while they spent time together. His daughter looked at him and just blurted, "Really?" Aaron said it was this moment that he realized how badly technology had been affecting his relationships. "It really did break my heart," he said.  The actor also explained how parents owe time to their kids, and there is no excuse. "You can choose whether the technology controls you. You should control the technology," Aaron added. 

Surprisingly, not only Aaron but most parents today believe their phones are the biggest distraction while spending time with their kids. In fact, a survey of 3,640 U.S. adults by the Pew Research Center found that nearly 7 in 10 (68%) parents are sometimes distracted by their phone when spending time with their kids. The same survey also found that more than half (56%) of parents spend too much time on their smartphones.

Meanwhile, reacting to Aaron's confession, @iamandrewtruong commented, "I loved the message. I’m not a father, but I definitely took a note. Technology is a wonderful servant but a terrible master." @acreklaw wrote, "Wow, this hits home. At work, I do a lot of child-centered play therapy. No phone in my hand, full focus on the child. Then I get home and allow my attention to be split, and it’s not fair to my toddler. It helped me see that maybe I need to allocate time to focused play with my child and separate time for the rest of my responsibilities.

@denae_terese said, "It's the same when people are out walking their pets, staring at their screens, or just being at home after they’ve been alone all day. I’ll be on the couch (on my phone), and my cats will kind of sit and stare at me, and then I suddenly feel really sad! Lol, so I’ll do playtime with them. Be more intentional with them." @psicosferico shared, "There's something so beautiful about parents saying 'sorry' to their kids. You change a lot of things just by acknowledging you can do stuff the wrong way sometimes; you teach your kids to be humble by being humble; you tell them being an adult means recognizing your own mistakes and that it's okay to say sorry; you validate them and make them feel important... I wish there were more fathers and mothers like this. Providing is important, but it's probably the most basic thing; every kid would give away so many things just to be acknowledged like this."

You can follow The Wall Street Journal (@wsj) on Instagram for more such celebrity updates. 

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