You’ve likely been in the middle of an important conversation with a child, spouse or co-worker only to look over and see them looking down at their phones and not paying attention to what you are saying.
While you have probably never heard of "phubbing,” known as phone snubbing, it's likely something that you experience every day. Phone snubbing could contribute to strained relationships at home and work.
“It can lead to us feeling more depressed, more closed [and] anxious even,” said Angela Byrd of Full Hearts Counseling.
That phone snubbing is wounding interpersonal communication and can be most destructive to romantic relationships and child/parent relationships.
Tips to stop "phubbing":
-Disable nonessential notifications of your phone. You don’t need to know about every Facebook or Instagram like.
-Turn off your email notifications at home. You will be less tempted to continuously check your phone.
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-Most importantly talk. Tell the person who is ignoring you how it makes you feel and why it is hurting your relationship.
-You can take your children to a place where they get poor cellphone service. It will help you reconnect with them.
“Going on camping trips and going somewhere were cell phone service is bleak at best and really seeing the advantage to being disconnected. So, sometimes you have to force the disconnect for you to go – ‘oh this was so cool. We got to really talk about this and [that],” Byrd said.
It could be a little trickier when the person ignoring you is a person in a position of power such as a boss.
“I would still say going to them and saying 'I value what you have to say and what I can learn from you and I don't get that when you are multi-tasking,’" Byrd said.
