Digital Media Could Ruin Your Relationships

Welcome to the 21st century! A time where iPads, tablets, and smartphones flourish. and electronic information and social networking are essential to human collaboration. Technology is a double edged sword; One which can expedite building relationships, and with the same speed & efficiency, can destroy others.

Phone Snubbing, or Phubbing

Small hand-held devices have become the major contributor in this anti-social movement, particularly between intimate and familial relationships. The inactivity of human participation between two or more people sitting in the same vicinity who would be communicating has become so profound that the scholarly online database Elsevier has featured a scientific journal which actually defines the phenomenon as ‘phubbing’, shorthand for phone snubbing. This is when a person either actively or inactively diverts attention to their cell phone or hand-held device when in fact should be doing so with their partners or companions.

Since this is a relatively new occurrence in human behavior in terms of long term sociological and psychological effects, there has not been a rise in general public awareness. However, as more scientific literature is being offered in this field, more peer-reviewed research is being published and brought to communal awareness.

Digital Media Can Impact Depression and Damage Sleep

Computers in Human Behavior describes phubbing in one of its studies, defining one of its many negative behaviors as indirectly impacting depression through ‘relationship satisfaction and ultimately life satisfaction. Given the ever-increasing use of cell phones to communicate between romantic partners, the present research offers insight into the process by which such use may impact relationship satisfaction and personal well-being.’ Therefore, time, energy, and effort which is exclusively set for human communication is now becoming increasingly scarce due to the use of smartphones and other intermittently related technologies.

Not only are these machines indirectly affecting our relationships, but they are also directly affecting them through negative manipulation of basic human behavior. Another new study also published in Computers in Human Behavior analyzed the effects on overall sleeping patterns in relation to the usage of digital media. The study found that, ‘using digital media, especially in the hour before sleep, contributes to poorer or disrupted sleep, and that sleep effects vary by the type of digital media used.’ It is clear that the usage of technology during times when you are not actively engaged in human interaction can later affect your overall sleeping patterns.

Healthier Device Usage for Healthier Relationships

Acquiring adequate physical, neurological, and psychological rest on a daily basis is the foundation to healthy social interfaceDigital Media Could Ruin Your Relationships
and ultimately the creation and maintenance of meaningful relationships. The overall trend in scientific literature pertaining to these functions are relatively novel, yet analytically unanimous. There is a clear connection between the usage of personal technological devices and the negative effects on the efficacy of human interaction, human behavior, and overall closely-related relationships.