{"id":103761,"date":"2025-11-18T08:15:25","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T08:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=103761"},"modified":"2025-11-18T08:15:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T08:15:25","slug":"this-phone-habit-might-be-ruining-your-relationship-heres-how-to-stop-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=103761","title":{"rendered":"This phone habit might be ruining your relationship. Here\u2019s how to stop it"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 12 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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We all know our phones aren\u2019t great for our relationships, but that doesn\u2019t stop us from reaching for them dozens of times a day.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how so-called phubbing \u2013 unintentionally snubbing someone in favour of your phone -creeps into everyday moments.<\/p>\n

This can impact your relationship by making partners feel ignored, and parental phone use can really affect children, from weakening bonds with younger kids and denting self-esteem in older ones.<\/p>\n

Rather than criticising yourself about your lack of self-control, focusing on being more intentional about when we pick up our devices can be more effective, according to one psychologist.<\/p>\n

Dr Kaitlyn Regehr, Associate Professor at University College London, suggests one simple way to stop you picking up your phone mindlessly when you\u2019re with someone else.<\/p>\n

Every time you reach for your phone, tell the other person why you\u2019re doing it, and when you\u2019re done, put it down and re-engage.<\/p>\n

It sounds almost too easy, but Dr Regehr says this small shift can help change our behaviour as we often check messages, swipe notifications or \u201cJust quickly look something up\u201d without thinking.<\/p>\n

What matters is being transparent, so if a message pops up that you need to check, you should tell the person or people you are with: \u201cI just need to reply to this, then you\u2019ll have my attention again.\u201d<\/p>\n

By naming it \u2013 \u201cI need to check my train times\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m replying to my mum\u201d \u2013 you interrupt the automatic habit of checking your phone, and it also signals to the person beside you that they still matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt stops the other person feeling ignored,\u201d Dr Regehr says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it keeps you accountable, because you\u2019re less likely to drift into other apps or endless scrolling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doing this could help improve your relationships, too.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

Dr Claire Hart, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Southampton,\u00a0led a study\u00a0which involved speaking to 196 people about their relationships and phone use. Overall, the results showed that the more you feel you\u2019re being phubbed, the worse your relationship tends to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot everyone reacts in the same way,\u201d Dr Hart says. \u201cIt depends on personality, but once one person feels ignored, it can trigger retaliation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey pick up their own phone, and that\u2019s when it becomes a dangerous spiral as each partner feels rejected or less valued than whatever\u2019s on the screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every time you are phubbed, you lose connection, and once you\u2019ve left a shared moment to look at a screen, it can take a while to get back to what was going on before.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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