A new study by researchers at Baylor University in Texas says that ignoring your partner in a social setting by looking at your phone, called phone snubbing or "phubbing" leads to depression and ruins relationships, Fox News reports.
"These lower levels of relationship satisfaction, in turn, led to lower levels of life satisfaction and, ultimately, higher levels of depression," study author James A. Roberts, a professor of marketing at Baylor, said in a news release.
For the study, the researchers conducted two surveys. The first survey asked 308 adults to pinpoint the actions of their romantic partners that they identified as snubbing. The second survey of 145 adults revealed that 46 percent of participants reported being "phubbed" by their partners.
"In everyday interactions with significant others, people often assume that momentary distractions by their cell phones are not a big deal," study author Meredith David, Ph.D., assistant professor of marketing, said in a news release.
"However, our findings suggest that the more often a couple's time spent together is interrupted by one individual attending to his/her cellphone, the less likely it is that the other individual is satisfied in the overall relationship."
The results of both the surveys showed that 22 percent of the participants felt that "phubbing" caused problems in their relationship. On the other hand, only 32 percent of the participants said that they were content with their relationship.
