On Valentine’s Day, people want to celebrate their love for one another. But it doesn’t work smoothly for everyone. Some just don’t manage to give their loved one their full attention. The phenomenon of phubbing is therefore also the subject of science.
Phubbing can negatively affect the quality of romantic relationships and even reduce the life satisfaction of those affected. Faruk Caner from the Turkish Gazisomanpa?a University in Tokat proved this with a study. “The phubbing phenomenon, which affects people’s social interactions, is an important risk factor for romantic relationships,” the scientist writes about his research. But what exactly is phubbing?
The term phubbing is a made-up word composed of the English terms “phone” for telephone and “snubbing” for snub. So it is the term for inappropriate use of mobile phones in a social situation and was created as a word by an advertising agency back in 2013. So phubbing is, strictly speaking, the habit of engaging with your smartphone while neglecting the people you socialize with. Such behavior is often perceived as impolite by other people. It also represents a communicative barrier that could also be seen as a barrier. But back to the study.
With the results of surveys, the researcher wanted to find out how satisfied people are in their romantic relationships with and without phubbing. Caner differentiated between perceived romantic relationship quality, relationship satisfaction and general life satisfaction. For the study, he used data from a total of 243 women and 65 men. The age of the 308 participants was between 18 and 60 years. The average age was given as 31.1 years.
The evaluation of the data showed quite clearly and as expected: people who are “phubbed” by their partner state that they have lower relationship satisfaction compared to those who are not phubbed. Relationships with phubbing are also perceived to be of lower quality overall.
But that’s not all. The results of the study, published in the journal Psychological Reports, also indicate that life satisfaction is indirectly negatively affected by phubbing. “These results show that relationship satisfaction and perceived romantic relationship quality decrease in individuals exposed to partner-phubbing behaviors, and that decreased relationship satisfaction and romantic relationship quality affect life satisfaction,” the researcher concludes.
Even if the study can only provide indications that phubbing not only disrupts the quality of relationships but even general life satisfaction, the findings should be sufficient to make it clear that next time you should give your partner your full and undisturbed attention. It doesn’t matter whether it’s your partner, parents, children or work colleagues – and it doesn’t matter whether it’s Valentine’s Day or not. In the worst case, you just have to turn off your smartphone for a while and forget about it.
(This article was first published on Tuesday, February 14, 2023.)
