App Use While Phubbing

Abstract

Existing research on phubbing focused mainly on the effect of phubbing on individuals’ wellbeing and social relationships. No published work has investigated in detail which apps are commonly used by smartphone users while having a face-to-face conversation with others and which demographic characteristics influences the choice of these apps. An online survey of 385 participants revealed that that Facebook was the most frequently used app by smartphone users while they are having a face-to-face conversation with others and that participants were more likely to use Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and Apple/Android Messages than Whatsapp, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Skype, WeChat, and Tumblr while having a face-to-face conversation with others. Results showed that an increase in age was weakly associated with a decrease in the use of finance apps (internet banking); social networking apps; photo and video apps; music apps; news apps; and lifestyle apps (Tinder) during phubbing. Results also showed that only two significant differences in the scores for males and females across the app categories used during phubbing were found and that there was no significant difference in the scores of urban and regional participants across the app categories. Considering this is the first study of its kind that looked in detail at which apps are commonly used by smartphone users while having a face-to-face conversation with others, a follow up study should next be conducted using qualitative interviews to understand in depth why do people use these apps and not others while having a face-to-face conversation with others.