5 Ways to Keep Your Smartphone From Ruining Your Relationship

Smartphones may seem like small rectangular objects in size but they are driving significant shifts in our social interactions. There is news every day about a new smartphone activity that spread like fire around the globe. ‘Kiki challenge’ is the latest among many such affairs giving life to the smartphone and social media. Several deaths have been reported while following the ‘Blue Whale’ challenge and taking selfies.

While all these trends come and die on regular basis, smartphones have particularly impacted our perspective about our social relationships. Electronic devices are said to be a major contributor to mood changes and depression. This is not to say that every way of using a phone is detrimental. Indeed, smartphones are doing far better than they are criticized for. But to address their negative impacts, we need to follow a few things. We are presenting research-backed strategies that can protect our relationships in different social situations.

1. Replacing electronic interactions with face-to-face interactions

With our lives getting busier every passing day, we are left with limited time to meet and see people personally. Most of our communications are ‘electronic’ in nature and their duration is increasing with time. This is seriously harming our social lives.

Why? Research shows that building strong social relationships is psychologically and physically healthy for us. It is easier for us if we try to build these relationships in person. Face-to-face interactions not only improve our mood but also help in reducing depression. Whenever we go out for exercising or religious sermons, we meet people and make new friends. All these interactions have a positive effect on us.

Smartphones have limited these meaningful social interactions. It has become common that we get to know more about our peers or friends through their Facebook or Twitter accounts. We pursue their profiles instead of asking them how they are doing.

2. Avoid using the phone when with someone

Now that we have discussed the need for meaningful in-person conversations, we need to be mindful of our cell phone use when we are with others. One research states that our social interaction would be of low quality if we keep using the smartphone during that time. You must have noticed yourself that it can break or stall the conversation. Almost 82% of the people believe that using a cell phone during social interactions negatively impacts our conversations.

Even with all this research and stats, we still don’t abstain from using smartphones during our conversations. In another study, 89 percent of the people said that they used a smartphone during their recent social gathering.

Besides developing weak social connections, using smartphones also diminishes our own experience. A study by the British Columbia University in Canada finds that people who use their smartphones while dinning out with friends and family enjoyed less than those who did not. Although most of us are aware of the damage caused by using phone around others, we turn a blind eye to this fact.

So when you pull out your phone during a family dinner, do remember how it feels when someone else does it.

3. Keeping phone aside during important conversations

Sometimes, refraining from using phones during certain conversations is not enough. Smartphones are highly distractive devices. It is hard to give someone undivided attention if smartphones are in sight. Another research by the researchers at the University of Essex shows that merely having a smartphone on the table during a meaningful conversation can reduce the quality of a relationship between two people. The presence of a phone alone in a conversation can impact the trust and empathy of a relationship.

This is not hard to imagine when you are pouring your heart out to someone and they are glancing at their phone or not responding to you. Physical presence alone is not enough. The ability to be mentally present and listening attentively is key to building a trustworthy relationship.

4. Don’t allow a smartphone to get in the way of socializing with strangers

Even our trivial interactions play a significant role in deciding how socially connected we are. Our everyday interactions like chatting with a cashier or a bartender tell a lot about how extrovert we are. One research at the University of British Columbia reveals this relation of day-to-day social interactions with our well-being. Imagine if you were to move to a new city, where you didn’t know anyone. It is your daily interactions with the people that will play an important role in your subjective well-being.

In another study, the researcher found that a smartphone on hand means people will rely on it instead of asking others for finding directions. As a result of this over-reliance on our smartphone, people felt less socially connected. These studies also demonstrate that our dependence on smartphones can destroy those small but important social interactions that could have a long-term impact on our lives.

5. Stay active while online

Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are touted for better social links and interconnectedness but we have not seen enough from the social relations made by using those electronic devices, at least not in the short-term. In fact, social media platforms have given rise to digital dangers like cyber bullying and many others. Although Xnspy and similar phone monitoring apps have been rising in popularity to control the social media use through smartphones, yet creating meaningful relations on social media sounds a distant dream.

A recent study in Social Psychological and Personality Science Journal indicated that online interactions and or social connections through these platforms does not better our feelings of social connection. In fact, the more a person is into online social interactions, the lower is their feeling of social connection.

To sum up our discussion, smartphones are especially helpful in times of emergency and reaching out to someone but, at the same time, their over-dependence could be detrimental to our social lives. The key lies in identifying the right balance of their use and misuse.

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