Are You Guilty of “Phubbing”?

Photo from: Budgeron Bach - Pexels

Do you find yourself checking your phone during a face-to-face conversation?

As our reliance on smartphones becomes increasingly intertwined with our day-to-day activities, it can be tempting to want to check our phones in the middle of our conversations. Snubbing someone with your phone or “phubbing”, may seem harmless however studies suggest otherwise.

Here’s why the next time you have that urge to check your notifications/texts/pings, you’ll want to put your phone away and focus on being present. 

Phubbing makes you feel less connected

(...) people who used their phones while eating with friends or family said they enjoyed their meal less and felt more distracted and less engaged than those who didn’t use tech at the table.

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology in 2018

Photo from: Ketut Subiyanto - Pexels

Phubbing can hurt your mental health

(...) phubbing was found to threaten four “fundamental needs” — belongingness, self-esteem, meaningful existence and control — by making phubbed people feel excluded and ostracized.

— Journal of Applied Social Psychology

How to stop phubbing  

If you’re a chronic phubber, creating and following strict technology rules, such as putting your phone away while eating dinner, can help you form new habits (...)

Other attention-based practices, like meditation and mindfulness, may also help re-train your attentional capacity.

— Emma Seppälä, Psychologist at Stanford and Yale University

If you are the one being phubbed

Be patient and compassionate and don’t take offense, because they’re following an impulse.

Do, however, take the time to calmly explain how phubbing makes you feel, especially if the person isn’t as bothered by the behavior as you are.(...)

— Emma Seppälä, Psychologist at Stanford and Yale University




Adapted from: TIME, “‘Phubbing’ Is Hurting Your Relationships. Here’s What It Is” by Jamie Ducharme  

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