We like enjoying benefits of the 21st century, and the smartphone is one of those benefits that we love the most. While it seems that the amalgamation of the mobile phone and PC has taken over the world long long time ago, actually it appeared on the mass market in the form that we’re used to less than twenty years ago. And we so eagerly embraced all the advantages it provided us with, without a single thought about the dark side of it.
Smartphone, as an attention-stealing device, can easily steal time you may spend within the real world. Now, such phenomena as “phubbing” (phone+snubbing) has entered our everyday life and it clearly isn’t going away any time soon.
Think how often do you take your smartphone to check the latest tweets on Twitter, or to scroll down the news feed on Facebook. As National Opinion Research Centre survey shows that on the average, Americans check their mobile devices each five minutes. That’s more than one hundred times in a 24 hours frame. As they go wherever we go, they are demanding more and more attention from us.
With people being possessed by their devices, it’s no surprise that smartphone and “phubbing” quickly became triggers for conflicts in couples. It’s not quite romantic when your partner’s attention is somewhere on the social network’s news feed.
Social networks were invented for people not to be lonely, but when you’re in a relationship, they can easily work as downers.
NORC’s survey also shows that over 60% of couples feel unsatisfied with their love life, because of smartphones. Smartphone interferes with your relations, thus creating the unplanned and unwanted ‘threesome’. As a result, people often find themselves competing with the device over the attention of their partners.
As smartphones differ fundamentally from the devices we previously had, they are more powerful than PCs. Eventually, quite a big number of people are building a psychological relationship with a smartphone instead of just using it.
Previously couples went to a restaurant, had a nice dinner, and exchanged their impressions of it. Now, we feel that it is more important to picture your meal and share it on Instagram. Previously, people enjoyed bed conversation after love making, now both partners tend to turn to their smartphones for endless scrolling through social networks.
If previously we shared our problems with our partners, now it feels more comfortable to post your problems on Facebook. But, what is more important? The opinion of your partner or the countless comments that your post will receive? With smartphones, it seems that intimacy no more appeals to us.
While useful on many levels, smartphones can ruin your relationships.
But everything written above is about those who are already in relationships. If you’re not, you have all the chances to use your smartphone to benefit your personal love. With Jump4love you can find a girlfriend from any corner of the world, and after reading this article you know that your smartphone mustn’t be the main star of your date.