Starting a Relationship is Difficult: Phubbing Creates Bad Impressions and Prevents the Creation of Relationships

Phubbing is a portmanteau, or combination, of the words “phone” and “snubbing”. To be phubbed is to be snubbed, or ignored, by someone using their cell phone when in your company. This paper reviews the literature about phubbing and its impact on relationships. Results suggest that phubbing undermines attempts at creating relationships. Phubbing may foster bad impressions and poor conversation quality as perceived by the phubbed individual. The current review of the relevant literature finds that being phubbed leads to perceptions of a lack of empathy, trust, closeness, attentiveness, politeness, and care. The negative outcomes of phubbing undermine the creation of healthy relationships. This paper reviews and synthesizes previous literature written on phubbing and supports claims that phubbing can interfere with the creation of healthy relationships. Given the importance of healthy relationships to human well-being, research into the impact of phubbing on relationship creation is of vital importance.