14 DAY TRIAL // It was only a few weeks ago that we talked about nomophobia, a fancy term for the nervousness - or maybe even queasiness - some people experience when they can't remember where they left their phone.
Today, we're going to talk about pphubbing, which is when somebody pays more attention to their phone than to their sweetheart when on a date or just hanging out.
The brainchild of researchers James A. Roberts and Meredith David at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, “pphubbing” is short for “partner phone snubbing.”
The research team discusses pphubbing and its unexpected consequences in a study published earlier this week in the journal Computers in Human Behavior.
“Pphubbing is described in the study as the extent to which people use or are distracted by their cellphones while in the company of their relationship partners,” the Baylor University specialists explain.
There are different degrees of pphubbing
With the help of about 300 volunteers, whom they asked to complete a 9-item survey, the researchers found that there are different degrees of pphubbing. Otherwise put, there are some people who are more likely to ignore their partner in favor of their phone when in their company.
The survey the study participants filled in included statements such as “My partner keeps their phone where they can see it when we are together,” “My partner constantly looks at their phone when talking to me,” and “My partner keeps their phone in their hands when they are with me.”
The more of these statements designed to pin down specific behaviors turned out to be true for each of the study participants included in the investigation, the worse a pphubber their partners was.
Pphubbing can sometimes end relationships
The Baylor University research team cautions that, as far as they could tell, pphubbing can seriously damage a relationship, maybe even end it. Besides, it can translate into depression.
Of the volunteers who completed the survey, 46.3% reported being phubbed by their partner. Then, 22.6% confessed that this behavior had caused trouble in their relationship and 36.6% admitted to feeling depressed when their partner kept checking their phone while in their company.
“Our findings suggest that the more often a couple's time spent together is interrupted by one individual attending to his/her cellphone, the less likely it is that the other individual is satisfied in the overall relationship,” specialists James A. Roberts and Meredith David explain.
By the looks about it, it's people who aren't very secure in their relationship who are more likely to be bothered or even feel depressed when feeling that their partner is ignoring them in favor of their phone.