Me, My Spouse, and My Avatar

My life has become a major distraction from my cell phone: Partner phubbing and relationship satisfaction among romantic partners

“…Approximately 40e50 percent of all marriages will end in divorce (www.apa.org/topics/divorce/), while many of the intact unions are poorly functioning and are characterized by low levels of relationship satisfaction on the part of one or both partners (Ahlstrom et al, 2012). As intimated in the title of this paper, it appears that life has become a major distraction from our cell phones.…”

“…First, although the samples used were adequate size and represented a broad swath of both women and men of all ages, future research in this area would benefit from studying both partners in romantic relationships. For instance, Ahlstrom et al (2012) found that couples where only one partner played video games reported higher levels of marital discord than couples where both played video games. Couples where both partners played video games argued less about their play than couples where one spouse only played and approximately three-quarters of these couples reported that gaming had a positive impact on their relationship.…”

“…In a large dyadic sample of couples (n ¼ 349) where either one or both played Massively Multiplayers Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG), playing such games was found to be negatively associated with marital satisfaction (Ahlstrom et al, 2012). Between 70 and 75 percent of independent-gamer couples (where only one spouse played MMORPGs) stated that gaming had negatively impacted their marriages.…”

“…That is, time spent playing video games displaced time that could have been spent with one's partner. Relatedly, a study of online game players found that time spent with such games created conflict amongst the couples studied (Ahlstrom et al, 2012).…”

“…A stable and healthy relationship is seen by many as the cornerstone of happy individuals and well-adjusted families (Coyne et al, 2011). Bradbury, Fincham, and Beach (2000) identified interpersonal interactions between partners as one of several important predictors of relationship satisfaction (Ahlstrom, Lundberg, Zabriske, Eggett, & Lindsay, 2012).…”