Are you a phubber? A UGA study focused on the phenomenon of so-called phone snubbing,or phubbing, which is the act of people ignoring their friends in a gathering and paying attention to their phones. Juhyung Sun is a doctoral student at the University of Oklahoma and received her master’s degree at the University of Georgia. She studied why people use their phones while in face-to-face situations.
Students who had social anxiety or depression and some personality traits such as neuroticism or agreeableness, those factors are significantly related to friends phubbing.
“I focused on friendship because friendship is more like, one of the most comfortable relationship ties so it is kind of okay behavior to use the phone,” according to Sun.
While the practice is often an unintentional habit, she says there are mental health conditions or personality traits which make some more likely than others to practice the habit.
“I got the sample from UGA and students who had social anxiety or depression and some personality traits such as neuroticism or agreeableness, those factors are significantly related to friends phubbing.”
The study found that agreeable individuals had lower rates of phubbing.
Sun says phone snubbing can lead to lower levels of friendship satisfaction.
You can hear more about phone snubbing or phubbing on Athens News Matters.