Love & Money is a new MarketWatch series looking at how issues surrounding money impact our relationships with significant others, friends and family.
Smartphones may be harmful to your love life — and it’s not because of the superficial connections that dating apps suggest might change your life.
Rather, our mobile devices are contributing to so-called “technoference,” hampering our in-person social interactions. That’s according to a new review paper from researchers at the University of Arizona and Wayne State University set to be published in the peer-reviewed academic journal Perspective on Psychological Science.
Smartphones allow people to feel an evolutionary sense of closeness with a wider array of people — not just their romantic partners.
The researchers propose that technoference doesn’t just occur because our smartphones are distracting. Instead, they suggest that mobile devices are fulfilling an evolutionary need.
“What is clear from archaeological records and cross-species comparison is that human brains not only evolved to deal with the immense complexities of social relationships, but that they were especially well designed for navigating close and intimate relationships with non-kin, including potential romantic partners,” the researchers wrote.
Also see: How to turn your teen into a millionaire
The problem is that smartphones let people to feel that same sense of closeness with a wider array of people — not just their romantic partners. Close relationships with other people helped humans to survive, and self-disclosure and responsiveness were key to developing those tight bonds.
Smartphones allow people to call, email, text or connect on Facebook FB, -0.01% Instragram, Snapchat SNAP, +4.15% or Twitter TWTR, +2.73% within seconds, and are diverting people’s attention from face-to-face interactions.
Close relationships with other people helped humans to survive and self-disclosure and responsiveness were key to developing tight bonds.
In other words: Who needs a romantic partner when you can FaceTime with your best friend on the other side of the world on your iPhone AAPL, +0.00% ?
And plenty of research shows that smartphone-fueled distraction is having a negative effect on people’s intimate relationships. A 2018 study found that when one person checks work emails on a mobile device at home it can actually harm their spouse’s job performance and satisfaction. (Perhaps it reminds that spouse of unfinished work tasks too.)
The researchers behind the new paper did not provide any concrete solutions to this issue. Indeed, they didn’t pass judgment on whether smartphones and social media were good or bad, but — as is often the case with such studies — said that more research is needed.
Nevertheless, some people have taken the matter into their own hands. A growing number of restaurants are banning phones or even offering discounts to diners who put them away while eating in an effort to get their customers to enjoy the experience of dining out more.
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