How
annoying is it when you're talking to someone in person and they
suddenly pick up their cellphone to communicate with someone else?
For two University of Delaware researchers, thats not a rhetorical
question. They set out to try to learn exactly how annoying this
behavior is, what circumstances make it especially irritating and if
there are ways to avoid offending someone when you just have to
interrupt a conversation to take a call.
Everybody seems to agree that its annoying when a person youre
talking with face-to-face starts using their phone, but there hasnt
been a lot of research, said Scott Caplan, professor of communication.
And the researchers who have looked at this topic vary widely in terms
of exactly what they studied and the research methods they used.
Caplan and John Courtright, also a professor of communication,
conducted a meta-analysis in which they reviewed all the published
research they could find about what has come to be called phubbing, or
phone snubbing. They came up with some 43 studies and summarized
those findings to pinpoint what social scientists have studied so far
and to identify promising areas for further research.
Some of the studies examined instances of phubbing between
acquaintances, friends or romantic partners, and they explored such
varied circumstances as receiving or making a phone call or merely
having a phone nearby during a face-to-face conversation. Despite these
differences in context, the UD researchers found a common thread:
Theres a consistent finding that the effects of phone use during an
in-person interaction are negative, said Caplan. People whose
conversation was interrupted by anothers phone use generally reported
more negative feelings about the other person.
The meta-analysis research has been published in Human Communication and Technology, a new journal that Caplan helped create and that makes its articles free and accessible online.
In addition to the meta-analysis, Caplan and Courtright have
conducted research at UD on phubbing and are awaiting publication of a
second paper about those studies. Its working title is Dont Touch That
Phone or Youll Be Sorry.
Using undergraduate research assistants posing as just another
student and before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic restricted
in-person gatherings the researchers had their confederates chat with
fellow students participating in the study and then have some type of
cell phone interruption. Later, the participants were asked to rate
their feelings about the interruption and about the student who they did
not know had been working with the researchers.
The scenarios of the interruptions varied, with the student research
assistants sometimes mentioning in advance that they were expecting an
important call and other times just taking a call with or without an
excuse me.
We were looking to answer the questions: What is it that people
dont like about another person using their phone? And what makes it
better or worse? Courtright said.
The UD undergraduate assistants also have been analyzing video
records of their interactions with the study participants. One finding
so far is that, if a person looks away when someone gets or makes a call
during their conversation, thats an indication that theyre especially
annoyed or offended by the behavior.
Meanwhile, it appears that alerting someone that youre expecting a
call youll have to take is one way of mitigating that persons
annoyance and negative opinion of you when youre interrupted,
Courtright said. Although cell phone etiquette has changed over time, he
thinks its still important to look for ways to avoid offending others.
If something as simple as putting your phone in your pocket and
turning down the volume can avoid a perception of rudeness, that seems
like a worthwhile thing to do, he said.
Article by Ann Manser; photo by iStock
Published Sept. 17, 2020
