The effects of “phubbing” on social interaction

Abstract

This research experimentally investigated the social consequences of “phubbing” – the act of snubbing someone in a social setting by concentrating on one's mobile phone. Participants viewed a three‐minute animation in which they imagined themselves as part of a dyadic conversation. Their communication partner either phubbed them extensively, partially, or not at all. Results revealed that increased phubbing significantly and negatively affected perceived communication quality and relationship satisfaction. These effects were mediated by reduced feelings of belongingness and both positive and negative affect. This research underlines the importance of phubbing as a modern social phenomenon to be further investigated.

Phubbing: Perceptions, reasons behind, predictors, and impacts

“…Phubbing partners have been found to lower relationship satisfaction (McDaniel & Coyne, ). Chotpitayasunondh and Douglas () have also found that phubbing decreases relationship satisfaction. The inverse relationship between partner phubbing and relationship satisfaction was not only reported by American participants (Roberts & David, ) but also by Chinese participants (X. Wang et al, ).…”

“…It is evident that phubbing behavior is an increasingly normalized occurrence in social interactions, which has both immediate and long‐term negative implications, such as poorer conversation quality and weaker interpersonal connections (Chotpitayasunondh & Douglas, ; Nakamura, ; Vanden Abeele et al, ), alongside reduced relationship satisfaction and depression (Halpern & Katz, ; Roberts & David, ; X. Wang et al, ). The prevalence of phubbing behavior and its negative impacts makes it necessary to continue to research what drives such behavior.…”

“…We believe semi‐structured interviews offer another alternative for understanding the habits of phubbing behavior. In a similar vein, while the impacts of phubbing on conversational and relationship quality have been extensively studied using mainly survey and experimental designs (Chotpitayasunondh & Douglas, ; Misra et al, ; Nakamura, ; Przybylski & Weinstein, ; Roberts & David, ; Vanden Abeele et al, ; X. Wang et al, ), the research regarding overt attitudes toward phubbing, especially using qualitative research methods, is limited. We believe unobtrusive observation has the potential of discovering overt attitudes toward phubbing.…”

“…Vanden Abeele et al (), one of the few who conducted experiments, found that phubbing decreased conversation quality. A number of studies on phubbing have been conducted to investigate the immediate impact of phubbing on social interactions (Chotpitayasunondh & Douglas, ; Vanden Abeele et al, ; Vanden Abeele & Postma‐Nilsenova, ). Longitudinal studies that should examine phubbing behavior over a longer period of time, are necessary to investigate the impact of phubbing on relationship quality in the long term.…”

“…Researchers interested in phubbing have also looked at how people perceive the behavior of phubbing others, and what are the reasons behind people's phubbing. When phubbed, individuals reported reduced trust in the phubber (Roberts & David, ), a reduction in perceptions of communication quality (Chotpitayasunondh & Douglas, ), reduced relationship satisfaction (Chotpitayasunondh & Douglas, ; X. Wang et al, ), and a feeling of being devalued by the phubber (Vanden Abeele & Postma‐Nilsenova, ). Individuals who described phubbing as annoying and disrespectful reported engaging in phubbing behavior themselves (Aagaard, ).…”