Feb 10, 2020 19:00:00

How do smartphones break up face-to-face conversations?

Many people say that with the spread of smartphones, the focus has been on communication over the display rather than on face-to-face conversations. Teenagers actively interacting with friends and others through messages and SNS postings is a common sight not only in Japan but also in the United States and other developed countries. Experts explain the negative effects of such smartphones on face-to-face conversations.

How our phones disconnect us when we're together

https://theconversation.com/how-our-phones-disconnect-us-when-were-together-130838

`` There are more young couples looking at the screen of the smartphone than watching the burning flame of the candle swaying at the restaurant with the atmosphere, '' says Jenabee Brown, a lecturer at Psychology at Northumbria University in the UK Mr.

With a mobile phone, you can easily communicate with friends far away. As a result, smartphones, which allow for more diverse ways of communicating, seem to be the best tools to bridge the gaps in relationships created by distance. However, in some cases, such as in the case of restaurants described by Mr Brown, a smartphone that is too convenient creates a crack in human-to-human communication.

A

study conducted at a coffee shop in the United States in 2016 showed that spending time with someone while using a mobile device reduces their ability to hear conversations properly and engage with others. In addition, it has become clear that using a mobile device will significantly reduce the quality of the conversation when communicating with someone you do not know much about.

Another recent study asks restaurant goers to 'leave the cell phone on a table' or 'leave it in a box out of reach'. After the meal at the restaurant was over, he asked the subject, 'How enjoyed the meal?' And 'How distracted?' If the cell phone was on the table, the subject replied 'distracted.' And it turns out that the disappointing result was that they couldn't enjoy enough meal time with friends and family.

Brown is also

studying the possibility of smartphones blocking face-to-face communication. Brown invited a couple of friends and asked them to sit in a waiting room and answer the questionnaire until the experiment was performed. In fact, this “how subjects spent waiting time” is the time that the research team wanted to investigate, and the state of the waiting time was filmed and analyzed later. Also, the questionnaire asked at this time asked, 'When did you feel the conversation time was over?'

The research team analyzed how subjects spent waiting and examined how much they used their smartphones. Of the 63 test subjects, 48 used a smartphone, with an average smartphone usage time of 1 minute and 15 seconds during a 5-minute waiting period. Since communication depends on both people actually interacting, it is expected that the use of one smartphone alone will affect the quality of the dialogue, so if one of the pair uses a smartphone, `` Smartphone Is used. '

Analysis reveals that the longer you use your smartphone, the lower the quality of the dialogue. In addition, it has been found that the quality of dialogue decreases when using a smartphone, regardless of the degree of friendship between friends. Analysis of the video revealed that in some cases the contents of photos and e-mails were shared with friends using a smartphone, and in such cases, the quality of the dialogue did not suffer. However, only 21% of all smartphones were used in this way, and the time spent sharing information was extremely short, averaging only 5 seconds. In addition, it seems that what happened more frequently was saying 'look at the screen of your smartphone while listening to the story of a friend'.

Regarding the behavior while saying `` looking at the screen of my smartphone while listening to the story of a friend '', Mr. Brown said, `` One of the subject pairs took out the smartphone, so the other took out the smartphone in the same way and was eager to talk about the contents of the conversation , But found that the other person was completely enthusiastic about the smartphone, was disappointed and hurt, and did not talk again with a 5-minute waiting time. '

While dialogue through smartphones and other technologies can help maintain relationships, 'Most of us still prefer face-to-face conversations to connect with friends. Unlike smartphone conversations, where you can't share information with others right away, it's perfect for sharing intimate information, 'said Brown.

Also, face-to-face conversations are excellent in that they can hold their hands when they are scared or hug them when they are sad, and `` it is possible to miss such opportunities in dialogue using smartphones ''. Brown points out.