Phubbing Family Members and Friends

Abstract

AbstractFamily and friends phubbing are neglected areas of research. The limited research available indicates that younger family members’ phubbing of older adults was interpreted to mean they were not significant in their younger family members’ lives and not deserving of their attention. Family phubbing increased loneliness and depression and decreased connectedness to family and satisfaction with life. Depression and social anxiety increased levels of friend phubbing, and friend phubbing decreased friendship satisfaction. Friend phubbing increased levels of attention seeking, and selfie liking, and was construed as face threatening. Friends ignored with smartphone during a face-to-face conversation found the behaviour annoying. There was also evidence to suggest that phubbing reduced happiness and increased sadness and made it difficult for phubbed individuals to disengage from the threatening stimuli. This chapter sheds light on these deleterious impacts and outlines several suggestions for future research.KeywordsCommunication disturbanceInterpersonal matteringSocial disconnectednessAttention seekingLoss of faceAnxiety