For many individuals smartphone use can be obsessive, and down-right addictive. Now, according to a research report in the journal ‘Computers in Human Behavior’, smartphones are damaging romantic relationships and leading to higher levels of depression.
To find out what effect mobile phone use has in a relationship, Prof. James A. Roberts & Meredith David of Baylor University surveyed 453 adults in the US. The study focused on “phubbing” or “partner phone snubbing” a term given to moments when people use or are distracted by their smartphone while in the company of the-significant-other.
This first study involved 308 adults and results led to development of a nine-item scale which includes statements such as:
- My partner places his or her smartphone where they can see it when we are together.
- My partner keeps his or her smartphone in hand when he or she is with me.
- My partner glances at his/her smartphone when talking to me.
- If there is a lull in our conversation, my partner will check his or her smartphone.
The study claims that development of the scale demonstrates that Phubbing is conceptually different from an attitude toward smartphones or simply smartphone addiction.
The second study involved 145 adults who were asked to respond to the nine-item scale that had be developed, this measured the degree of “phubbing” among romantic couples and degrees of depression & interpersonal attachment style. The survey showed:
- 46.3% of the respondents had been phubbed by their partner
- 22.6% said this phubbing caused conflict in their relationships
- 36.6% felt depressed at least some of the time
Overall, only 32% of respondents stated they were satisfied with their relationship. Prof David says that people tend to assume that momentary distractions with a smartphone are insignificant during everyday interaction.
“What we discovered was that when someone perceived that their partner phubbed them, this created conflict and led to lower levels of reported relationship satisfaction. These lower levels of relationship satisfaction, in turn, led to lower levels of life satisfaction and, ultimately, higher levels of depression.”
Read Article (name | domain | 10/08/2015)
In some ways this study verifies what many of us already thought. Any relationship with a mobile device must be placed on pause in the presence of a significant other.
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