‘Put that phone away’ – how the iPhone strains your relationship

According to a study, staring at your iPhone all the time is not good for your relationship. And not just your relationship – excessive smartphone use also puts a strain on friendships. You must know this.

Excessive iPhone use strains your relationship

Have you ever heard of ‘phubbing’? This word was coined in 2012 by an English advertising agency and is an amalgamation of the English words ‘phone’ and ‘snubbing’. It refers to the inappropriate use of mobile phones in a social situation.

This includes, for example, the habit of being busy with your iPhone instead of the people you are with at the time. It should be clear that such behavior is quickly perceived as rude by others. Others quickly judge it as disinterest or even rejection.

Research confirms: too much iPhone puts a strain on your relationship

Now that sounds pretty logical in principle, but now there is finally a scientific study that has investigated the effects of ‘phubbing’. And guess what? According to the research, phubbing can negatively affect the quality of romantic relationships. The general satisfaction in the lives of those involved can also decrease as a result.

The study was conducted by Faruk Caner of Turkey’s Gazisomanpaşa University in Tokat. “The phubbing phenomenon affects people’s social interactions and is an important risk factor for romantic relationships,” said the scientist.

That is how the research was organized

For the study, Caner used data from a total of 243 women and 65 men interviewed. The age of the 308 participants ranged from 18 to 60 years, the mean age was 31.1 years. With the results of the surveys, the researcher wanted to find out how satisfied people are in their love relationships, with and without phubbing. To this end, Caner distinguished between perceived romantic relationship quality, relationship satisfaction, and overall satisfaction.

The analysis of the data painted a very clear (and expected) picture: people who are “phubbed” by their partners were less satisfied with their relationships. In addition, relationships with phubbing were generally perceived as being of lesser quality. A summary of the study’s findings can be found in the journal Psychological Reports.

General satisfaction is affected

It also says in the analysis that “partner phubbing” has a significant indirect effect on your overall life satisfaction. This is due to the poorer perceived quality of the romantic relationship and relationship satisfaction.

So we have clear advice for your next date or for your relationship in general. The same goes for a friendship or a relationship with relatives. If you don’t want to interfere with your relationship satisfaction, leave your iPhone alone for a while.

Constantly looking at your iPhone, Apple Watch, or other tech devices is probably not conducive to a relationship, either. And of course you could have come up with that without the research. But maybe because of the fact that it has now been scientifically proven, you keep it in mind more consistently.

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