How Do Smartphones Affect Social Relationships?
Smartphones allow us to communicate with people all over the world instantly. This can be a great thing but it also has its disadvantages.
In her research Turkle finds that smartphone use lowers the quality of face-to-face interactions. It can distract us from the conversation and lead to misunderstandings and frustrations.
Distractions
Often times, text messages and social media interactions are considered a distraction to face-to-face interaction. They interfere with how socially connected you feel and can make the relationship less satisfying for the person involved.
This can be especially true for romantic relationships where smartphones can be a major source of conflict. Research has shown that people who believe their significant others are distracted by their phone are less satisfied with their relationships.
It is also important to note that there are smartphone apps such as Siempo that remove distractions by interrupting your attention only when you want them to. The app can be particularly helpful for people who are metrics types, as it helps you manage your smartphone time and limit it to only when you need to use it.
In addition, the diversity of mobile phone features and functions causes users to experience excessive usage behaviors. Such excessive behavior leads to cognitive distraction. It also stimulates cognitive emotional pre-occupation, which negatively affects psychological well-being. This has implications for policy makers who should educate students about the negative impact of mobile phone distraction and encourage them to reduce their usage.
Misunderstandings
Misunderstandings can be detrimental to social relationships, as they may cause negative emotions and lead to conflict. This can be caused by a number of factors, including culture, language, word meanings and assumptions, or even just misunderstanding the intent of someone else.
For example, if you have been spending quality time with your partner and they start scrolling through their phone at a dinner table, this may leave them feeling unnoticed or even ignored. This could be a sign of technology mismatch, according to communication scholars at Stanford University.
Using an existing coding scheme, we analyzed the transcripts of 20 selected ART triadic visits and detected seven types of problematic understandings. These were grouped into three main mutually exclusive categories based on the linguistic evidence of these misunderstandings. The “strong evidence” category captured actual misunderstandings, the “acceptable evidence” category capturing cues of doubtful understandings, and the “weak evidence” category capturing indirect signs of potential misunderstandings.
Lack of Empathy
A lack of empathy is one of the biggest problems that can sour social relationships. It can lead to a partner taking everything for granted, giving without being noticed, and feeling unappreciated.
While not everyone struggles with this issue, it can make a relationship difficult and frustrating to deal with. You can try to build your partner’s ability to empathize with others by encouraging them to be more observant of people’s expressions and emotions.
This isn’t easy to do, but it can be rewarding for both you and your partner. It will help you both develop healthy empathy and build more trust in the future.
Lack of Patience
Patience is a skill that requires time and practice. You can improve your patience by focusing on the positive aspects of the situation rather than getting frustrated or letting it get to you.
People with greater patience tend to have healthier mental health and better overall life satisfaction than those who have less patient attitudes. They also are more grateful, have more connection with mankind and the universe, feel a sense of abundance and experience less depression.
Moreover, impatient people are also more likely to be prone to physical illnesses associated with stress. These include hypertension, high cholesterol, heart disease and strokes.
