Cell phone use aka phubbing is ruining relationships and making people more depressed according to a new study.

Have you ever phubbed? You know when you snub your partner by checking your phone during your date? Or leaving your iPhone out within reach while you are hanging out with your significant other? Now two researchers say there’s strong evidence that your phubbing is wrecking your relationship and it is actually making you depressed.

The word phubbing became popular in the UK a few years ago, shortly after a group at the University of Sydney created a “Stop Phubbing” PSA campaign. The word comes from “phoning” and “snubbing” never seemed to hit the US, despite the fact that people all over the world phub. Maybe US accents make it sounds awful or it’s too similar to the popular pornography website, Porn Hub.

Either way, it seems like it caught the attention of US academics. In a recent paper published in Computers in Human Behavior, Baylor University business professors James Roberts and Meredith David did a series of tests and surveys to determine whether p-phubbing (partner phubbing) was an actual thing and how it impacts relationships? Roberts and David polled over 150 men and women who were in relationships asking them the following questions about the phubbing experiences.

1. During a typical mealtime that my partner and I spend together,my partner pulls out and checks his/her cell phone.

2. My partner places his or her cell phone where they can see it when we are together.

3. My partner keeps his or her cell phone in their hand when he or she is with me.

4. When my partner’s cell phone rings or beeps, he/she pulls it out even if we are in the middle of a conversation.

5. My partner glances at his/her cell phone when talking to me.

6. During leisure time that my partner and I are able to spend together, my partner uses his/her cell phone.

7. My partner does not use his or her phone when we are talking.

8. My partner uses his or her cell phone when we are out together.

9. If there is a lull in our conversation, my partner will check his or her cell phone.

Then they gave their subjects some other tests, to measure their relationship types and happiness levels. What Roberts and David found probably comes as no surprise to anyone who has argued with their significant other who can’t stop looking at their phone when you are talking talk to them. They found that people who have “anxious”attachment types in relationships, such as people who fear they are being ignored or abandonded, react more strongly when their partner uses a cell phone. In addition, they found that theres’s a strong correlation between phubbing and conflicts over cell phones.

Ultimately, they argued that people who experience the most phubbing in their relationships also tend to have more arguments, which leads to general unhappiness in their lives. So cell phone use has an indirect effect on happiness.

Of course, we don’t know what is actually causing this to happen. Remember, correlation does not equate to causation. Roberts and David admit that it’s possible that people who are generally unhappy in their relationship are more likely to use their cell phone more and engage in p-phubbing. And p-phubbing may increase as relationships move from their honeymoon phase to a regular mundane partnership. But, they point out that “the institution of marriage (and romantic relationships in general) is under attack” from cell phone use and p-phubbing.

That’s right go ahead and blame Facebook, Twitter, Apple, and Andriod for your bad relationship. Lord knows, divorce attorneys are happy to help you with your struggling marriage.

Read the full paper at Computers in Human Behaviour.

What do you think? Do you engage in phubbing? Does cell phone use affect your relationships? Share with us your thoughts in the comments below!

Matt Damon says it was painful to be Ben Affleck’s friend while he was dating Jennifer Lopez.

Matt Damon has a lot to say about everyone and everything lately. Having already touched on homosexuality in Hollywood and diversity in filmmaking, he’s now moving onto interracial relationships with Ben Affleck’s former relationship with Jennifer Lopez. How cute.

Via US Weekly:

“There’s nobody who’s more misunderstood,” the Martian actor, 44, said of his old pal. “Ten years ago, the public image of him could not have been farther apart from who he actually is. It was like he was being cast in a role, that he was a talentless kind of meathead, with his whole relationship with Jennifer Lopez.”

[…]

“He just got cast as this person that he wasn’t,” Damon said of Affleck, 43, when he was with J.Lo, now 46. “It was just really painful. It was painful to be his friend, because it wasn’t fair, you know? To my mind, nobody really got him at all.”

After these last few weeks, I am not surprised.

Related Matt Damon News:

• Why Everyone is Turning Their Back on Matt Damon

• Matt Damon Reveals His Wildest Piece of Acting Advice EVER

• Why Matt Damon Quit and Ben Affleck Replaced Damon for ‘Daredevil’ Movie

• Matt Damon Shuts Up Black Filmmaker To Explain “Diversity”

Image Credit: Helga Esteb/FeatureFlash/Denis Makarenko/ Shutterstock.com

What do you think of Matt Damon’s comments? Share with us your thoughts in the comments below!