MikeLigalig.com

MAMA DIARIES

Are you guilty of ‘pphubbing’? Or why it’s wise to unfriend your partner

By: Audrey Zubiri
Philippine Daily Inquirer
November 4th, 2015

GUESS what, I’ve got a new word for you today: “pphubbing.” Sounds weird, but you might unconsciously be practicing it.

Pphubbing puts together two or more different concepts or words into one—like the way we do with our favorite love teams. It is “partner phone snubbing,” or paying more attention to your phone over your significant other.

It sounds like a joke, easy enough to dismiss, but pphubbing and its effects on relationships have been the subject of studies and discussion the past few years.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=81297.0

Disconnected

A third, more recent one, from Baylor University, Texas, confirmed what the first two studies suggested—that among couples, one who uses more technology than the other is more likely to have issues, ranging from “lower relationship satisfaction” to simply “feeling ignored and less secure.” In short, half of the couple feels disconnected to the relationship while the other is hooked on his/her mobile gadget.

The Baylor study included only 453 respondents, yet almost half, at 46 percent, claim that they have been pphubbed by their respective partners.

A second survey measured how much pphubbing was done by couples. Most of us are guilty of checking our phones “just for a second,” and in most cases this isn’t really a problem.

But according to Baylor University researcher Meredith David, “Findings suggest that the more often a couple’s time spent together is interrupted by the partner attending to his/her mobile phone, the less likely it is that the other is satisfied in the overall relationship.”

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=81297.0

Making rules

If you answered “no” to all of the questions, congratulations! But I have a feeling you just often misplace your phone.

Brigham Young University psychologist Sarah Coyne, who was part of the technoference study, said there are ways to adapt to today’s technology without damaging one’s relationship.

One way is by making rules—when it is appropriate for couples to have their devices out.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=81297.0

Establish tech-free time.

As Coyne and Kerner pointed out, establish time that is meant just for you and your partner. A dinner date is romantic because it allows a couple to spend time with each other, not with friends on Facebook.

Unfriend or unfollow each other on social media.

If you want to have something new and exciting to talk about at the end of the day, you may want to consider this option. While it is convenient to be each other’s friends and share each other’s photo albums, etc., unfriending is worth a try.

I haven’t done this but I make a conscious effort not to check my husband’s Facebook page so I get to hear directly from him exactly how his day went.

Technology has immensely changed the nature of relationships, making connections easier. The world has virtually become smaller. But there are things that should never change, especially the lasting connections that do not require a mobile phone.


lifestyle.inquirer.net

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=81297.0