Smartphones and Close Relationships: The Case for an Evolutionary Mismatch

This article introduces and outlines the case for an evolutionary mismatch between smartphones and the social behaviors that help form and maintain close social relationships. As psychological adaptations that enhance human survival and inclusive fitness, self-disclosure and responsiveness evolved in the context of small kin networks to facilitate social bonds, promote trust, and enhance cooperation. These adaptations are central to the development of attachment bonds, and attachment theory is a middle-level evolutionary theory that provides a robust account of the ways human bonding provides for reproductive and inclusive fitness. Evolutionary mismatches operate when modern contexts cue ancestral adaptations in a manner that does not provide for their adaptive benefits. We argue that smartphones and their affordances, although highly beneficial in many circumstances, cue humans' evolved needs for self-disclosure and responsiveness across broad virtual networks and, in turn, have the potential to undermine immediate interpersonal interactions. We review emerging evidence on the topic of technoference, which is defined as the ways in which smartphone use may interfere with or intrude into everyday social interactions. The article concludes with an empirical agenda for advancing the integrative study of smartphones, intimacy processes, and close relationships.This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

WHY PHUBBING IS TOXIC FOR YOUR RELATIONSHIP: UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF SMARTPHONE JEALOUSY AMONG “GENERATION Y” USERS

Coined as “phubbing”, excessive use of smartphones in the romantic context has been shown to rep-resent a barrier to meaningful communication, causing conflict, lowering relationship satisfaction, and undermining individual well-being. While these findings project a dire picture of the future of romance, the mechanisms behind the detrimental influence of partner phubbing on relationship-relevant markers are still little understood. Considering prior evidence that partner phubbing leads to the loss of exclusive attention towards the other party, we argue that these are rather the feelings of jealousy partner phubbing is triggering that are responsible for the negative relational outcomes. Based on the analysis of qualitative and quantitative responses from “generation Y” users, we find that partner phubbing is associated with heightened feelings of jealousy, which is inversely related to couple’s relational cohesion. Moreover, jealousy plays a mediating role in the relationship between partner’s smartphone use and relational cohesion, acting as a mechanism behind this undesirable link. Challenging the frequently promoted euphoria with regard to permanent “connectedness”, our study contributes to a growing body of IS research that addresses dark sides of information technolo-gy use and provides corresponding implications for IS practitioners

Navigating technoference in the family system

This integrative literature review explores the increase of technology use in families, with a focus on how technology is disrupting in-person social interactions within the family system. Many studies have been conducted on how technology impacts a couple’s romantic relationship, and only a few have examined the relationship between the parent and child. This review is one of the first to examine how technology may affect the entire family unit from before children to raising adolescents. Each section of the family unit is examined, beginning with before children, followed by the early bonding and attachment associated with infant/childhood, and then the adolescent parent relationship. Research is then provided on how technology cues our ancestral adaptations making it more difficult for families to disconnect. This review finishes with clinical recommendations from the research. The recommendations are separated into two clinically relevant subcategories: 1) interventions; 2) and conversations

Distracted Parenting: How Social Media Affects Parent-Child Attachment

Social media usage for parents has become ubiquitous, as either a form of entertainment or communication with other individuals. However, excessive use of social media has also shown to have effects on parenting; causing parental distraction, decreasing the level of everyday parental engagement, and making a child more likely to be at risk for injury. Studies have shown that frequent eye contact, one on one time, and undivided attention are necessary in building a secure attachment between a parent and child. The research study in question hoped to understand whether there was a correlation between the amount of hours a parent uses social media and any number of parental qualities. Surveys were distributed to parents in various parenting groups and online chatting boards regarding social media usage, number of hours on their devices, and parenting styles. Other questions asked whether their child has ever been injured as a result of their social media usage, and whether a parent shows a strong general bond to their child. Results from the survey concluded there to be only one statistically significant relationship between any of the social media usage variables and the parenting variables, that is, a positive relationship between hours of social media usage and a high score on authoritarian parenting techniques. Overall however, parents identified more often with a balanced parenting style. Implications of other demographic characteristics are further explored

Designing meaningful products in the digital age: How users value their technological possessions

© 2019 Association for Computing Machinery. Devices such as phones, laptops and tablets have become central to the ways in which many people communicate with others, conduct business and spend their leisure time. This type of product uniquely contains both physical and digital components that affect how they are perceived and valued by users. This article investigates the nature of attachment in the context of technological possessions to better understand ways in which designers can create devices that are meaningful and kept for longer. Findings from our study of the self-reported associations and meaningfulness of technological possessions revealed that the digital contents of these possessions were often the primary source of meaning. Technological possessions were frequently perceived as systems of products rather than as singular devices. We identified several design opportunities for materialising the associations ascribed to the digital information contained within technological products to more meaningfully integrate their physical and digital components

SOCIAL CAPITAL AND POVERTY REDUCTION: TOWARD A MATURE PARADIGM

Introduction The purposes of this paper are: (1) to introduce the social capital paradigm; (2) to present evidence that social capital has an important role in poverty reduction; and (3) to suggest several policy prescriptions for building and using social capital to reduce poverty. The social capital paradigm includes social capital, networks, socio-emotional goods, attachment values, institutions, and power. Social capital is a person or group's sympathy for others. Social capital resides in sympathetic relationships that can be described using networks. One reason to value social capital is because it can produce economic benefits and if neglected, economic disadvantages. Another reason to value social capital is because it can be used to produce socio-emotional goods. Sometimes socio-emotional goods become embedded in objects. When this occurs, the meaning and value of the object change. The change in the value of an object produced by embedded socio-emotional goods is the object's attachment value. Individuals exchange both physical and socio-emotional goods. Institutions are the rules that order and give meaning to exchanges. Institutions with high attachment values are more likely to be observed than those whose compliance depends on economic incentives or threats. Finally, power, the ability to influence others, depends on one's resources, including one's social capital. In most personalized transactions, persons exchange both socio-emotional goods and physical goods and services. Moreover, the relative amounts of socio-emotional goods and physical goods and services exchanged will alter the levels and terms of trade when measured in physical units. Since one's ability to include socio-emotional goods in exchanges for physical goods and services depends on one's social capital, the terms and levels of exchange of physical goods and services will be influenced by the transacting party's social capital. Those with high levels of social capital will have advantages over those who lack social capital because they can exchange both socio-emotional goods and physical goods and services. Furthermore, since social capital alters the terms and levels of trade and the terms and levels of trade influence the distribution of incomes derived from trades, then social capital also has an important influence on the distribution of household income and poverty. Some evidence suggests that the distribution of social capital in networks and the distribution of household incomes are connected.Food Security and Poverty, Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

Mobile phone use amongst students in a university in Malaysia: its correlates and relationship to psychological health

The study explored the extent of mobile phone use amongst students of Universiti Putra Malaysia. Additionally, the study determined personal and family factors related to the mobile phone use and, the relationship between problem mobile phone use and psychological health of the students. The multi-stage cluster sampling was employed to identify the students (N=386) who completed a self-administered questionnaire. The students were found to spend on average 6 hours daily and USD18.70 monthly on their mobiles. Text message was the most used feature and peers were the most frequently contacted person. Older students used more voice calls while females text message more frequently. Male and younger students were more interested with other features (MMS and GPRS) of the mobiles. Students from higher income families spent more time and money on their mobile phone. Additional analyses showed that students with lower self-esteem and spent more time on the phone were more likely to be problem phone users. Adolescents who spend more time on their mobile phone were also more vulnerable to psychological disturbances. There is a need to further uncover underlying factors that influence students' mobile phone behavior, and the consequences of intense mobile phone use on their psychological well-being

The effects of values and the presence of a mobile phone on friendship interactions

Friends are sources of social support and are often observed interacting in public settings while using their mobile phones. Four types of mobile phone use were predicted: distraction, distraction multitasking, facilitation, and facilitation multitasking. These types of mobile phone use were predicted to be influenced by communication technology use, values, and friendship quality. Furthermore, these phone use types were predicted to influence the quality of a friendship interaction. An observational paradigm was used to observe mobile phone use behaviors in friendship interactions. Participants were recruited in friendship dyads and completed communication technology, values, and friendship quality questionnaires before visiting the laboratory. Friends attended the appointment together and were shown to a waiting room area where they were left alone for five minutes, and their interaction was videotaped. Following the interaction, friends completed an interaction quality questionnaire. Analyses were conducted in HLM to account for nonindependence in the dyadic data. Neither communication technology use, values, nor friendship quality had an influence on the types of phone use. An actor-partner interaction model tested the influence of phone use on interaction quality. Each actor’s interaction quality was predicted from their own friendship quality and the four types of mobile phone use and from their partner’s friendship quality and the partner’s four types of phone use. The actor’s friendship quality increased interaction quality. The partner’s distraction decreased interaction quality and the actor’s distraction multitasking increased interaction quality. These results extend previous research on multitasking and suggest new understandings of social snacking and customized sociality