Do you and your significant other phub each other on the reg? You probably do. And by the way, it’s not a weird sex thing.
What is phubbing?
Phubbing is, by definition: ‘The act of snubbing someone in a social setting by looking at your phone instead of paying attention.’
The term was coined in Australia in 2012, but don’t think you’re out of the loop if you’ve never heard of it- we hadn’t either, until now.
New research
The odd/sexual-sounding term is having a bit of a moment, after research from Baylor University in America found that phone snubbing can have an affect on relationships.
The study, published in the journal, Computers in Human Behaviour, quizzed 450 adults and found that just under half (46%) had been phubbed by their partner.
Not really surprising, we all check our phones, right?
But interestingly, 22% of the study’s participants said that phubbing caused issues in their relationship.
The study’s co-author James A. Roberts told Yahoo Health that the less phubbing a relationship contains, the happier it will be.
“We found that [people who] reported higher partner phubbing fought more with their partner and were less satisfied with their relationship than those who reported less phubbing,” he explained.
Am I Doing It?
We can literally hear you now: ‘Am I a phubber? SHIT! My boyfriend is almost definitely going to dump me today because I phubbed him in last night’s Corrie break.’
Well, to put that racing mind of yours at ease, here are the traits of a first-rate phubber, according to James:
-Checking your phone while you’re in a restaurant with other people.
-Keeping your phone in sight/ holding it while you’re with other people.
-Immediately checking your phone when you’ve received a notification, while in the company of other people.
-Looking at your phone when you’re on a date.
-Playing with your phone during a conversational dry-spell.
We may as well stock up on the Ben and Jerry’s now then, because we do most* of those things most of the time and therefore we are going to be dumped.
*Not the date one, that’s actually rude.
If you are also a phubber, you’ll be thrilled to know that about 35,260 people have voted ‘against’ our filthy habit in a poll on the tongue-in-cheek website, Stop Phubbing.
Maybe we’ll think twice about hitting up Insta the next time our pillow talk gets a bit dull. Or maybe we’ll just carry on doing it and hope we don’t die alone. Happy phubbing, everybody!
Like this? Then you might also be intereted in:
Follow Megan on Twitter: @megansuttton
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.