IF YOU are emotionally attached to your smartphone and rely on it every waking minute, it may be harming your relationship.
Psychologists claim that increasing numbers of people in long-term partnerships are having to compete with their partner’s smartphone for attention, making it the ‘third wheel’ in their relationship.
A survey found that almost three quarters of women in committed relationships feel that smartphones are interfering with their love life and are reducing the amount of time they spend with their partners.
Scientists found that what they describe as this ‘technoference’ – even if infrequent – sets off a chain of negative events: more conflict about technology, lower relationship quality, lower life satisfaction and higher risk of depression.
The poll, which was conducted by Brandon McDaniel of The Pennsylvania State University and Sarah Coyne of Brigman Young University in Utah, surveyed 143 women.
In it, 62 percent of women claimed that technology interfered with time spent with their partner and almost one third of respondents said their boyfriend has looked at his smartphone while they were talking.
One quarter said their partner had been known to compose texts during face-to-face conversations, according to findings published in the journal Psychology of Popular Media Culture. – Daily Mail