Relationship difficulties and “technoference” during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has touched many aspects of people’s lives around the world, including their romantic relationships. While media outlets have reported that the pandemic is difficult for couples, empirical evidence is needed to test these claims and understand why this may be. In two highly powered studies ( N = 3271) using repeated measure and longitudinal approaches, we found that people who experienced COVID-19 related challenges (i.e., lockdown, reduced face-to-face interactions, boredom, or worry) also reported greater self and partner phone use (Study 1) and time spent on social media (Study 2), and subsequently experienced more conflict and less satisfaction in their romantic relationship. The findings provide insight into the struggles people faced in their relationships during the pandemic and suggest that the increase in screen time – a rising phenomenon due to the migration of many parts of life online – may be a challenge for couples.

A descriptive literature review of early research on COVID-19 and close relationships

“…In line with Zoppolat et al (2022) , the research examining technology use specifically for social connection during the pandemic did so in relation to COVID-19-related guidelines (a specific external stressor, according to Pietromonaco & Overall’s (2021) adapted VSA model). Interesting indirect and direct links emerged between these sets of variables.…”

“…Increased technology use—specifically, phone use and social media engagement—appear to have impacted romantic relationships during the pandemic. In two highly powered studies ( N = 3271), researchers ( Zoppolat et al, 2022 ) found that people who experienced COVID-19 related challenges (i.e., lockdown, reduced FtF interactions, boredom, worry) also reported greater self and partner phone use and time spent on social media. In turn, couples experienced more conflict and less relationship satisfaction.…”

The Relationship of Technoference in Conjugal Interactions and Child Smartphone Dependence: The Chain Mediation between Marital Conflict and Coparenting

“…Additionally, our study explored the mechanism of technoference in conjugal interactions on child smartphone dependence from the perspective of family relationship and parenting, but there may be other personality and relationship variables that are yet unexplored that may be causal, moderating or mediating factors in the relationship between technoference in conjugal relationships and child smartphone dependence. According to the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) model of specific internet-use disorders [ 76 ], there may be some mediation or mediation mechanism that explained how technoference in conjugal interactions might accelerate child smartphone dependence through personal emotional and cognitive factors, such as depression [ 22 ], couples’ distraction with technology, emotional stability [ 77 ], and so on.…”

“…Indeed, studies have shown that technoference in conjugal interactions has a great impact on family ecology. On the one hand, in the context of couples interacting, technoference can cause conflicts [ 22 ] and damage the marital relationship [ 16 , 23 ]. Contemporarily, conflicts in couples and the destruction of relationships will lead to the deterioration of the family atmosphere, which will create pressure for children.…”

“…Previous studies have found that the occurrence of technoference in conjugal interactions can directly lead to marital conflict [ 33 , 34 , 35 ]. At the same time, technoference also causes couples to spend less time together and have lower relationship satisfaction [ 23 , 36 ] and causes the deterioration of the quality of the relationship between husband and wife [ 22 ]. In addition, studies have confirmed that marital satisfaction is highly correlated with marital conflict [ 37 ], and there is a corresponding relationship between the development trajectory of the two in the first ten years of marriage; that is, when marital satisfaction decreases, marital conflict will increase [ 38 ].…”