Life Advice: Put Your Phone Away, Please

It’s very common to see people in a restaurant paying zero attention to each other while they scroll on their phones.

Why did they bother going out together? Maybe they’re escaping the dreariness of each other’s company. Or perhaps they’re sending each other texts about the loud bore droning at the next table. Or maybe they’re planning a weekend away together.

In a pioneering field experiment coupled with experience sampling that aimed to explore the impact of phone presence on social interactions during dining, researchers uncovered compelling evidence indicating that smartphone use diminishes the enjoyment and pleasure derived from face-to-face social engagements.

Participants were part of a study on the experience of dining out with friends. Groups of three to five people were randomly assigned to either a phone or phoneless condition at a local café.

• In the phone condition, participants were told they would receive a text survey question, requiring them to keep their phones on the table.
• In the phoneless condition, participants were informed about a paper survey and instructed to place their phones in a container.

After self-reporting feelings, all participants had an uninterrupted meal. Post-meal, they completed a questionnaire assessing social connectedness, affect, distraction, and other factors.

They reported their phone use and relationship details, providing feedback. The sessions were recorded for analysis, and participants received compensation.

The second study used experience sampling. Participants completed a demographic survey, followed by a seven-day experience sampling method (ESM) using surveysignal.com.

They received five prompts daily between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., responding within 15 minutes. Surveys focused on experiences in the last 15 minutes, measuring interest/enjoyment, affect valence, social connectedness, distraction, boredom, and time perception on seven-point scales. Participants reported phone use during the episode (dichotomized) and engaged in various daily activities. This aspect of the study aimed to gather real-time data on smartphone use and its impact on subjective experiences.

The research team found that participants reported higher levels of distraction and lower enjoyment when using phones during in-person interactions compared to when phones were not in use.

This study highlights a paradox: Smartphones facilitate global connections but simultaneously compromise the intrinsic benefits of personal, face-to-face conversations. As the researchers stated, “Phone use undermines the enjoyment people derive from real-world social interactions.”

Despite their role in connecting individuals globally, phones erode the quality of local, in-person social interactions and the richness, satisfaction, and enjoyment derived from face-to-face social engagements.

In truth, our human conversations can be so deep that we should devote ourselves to them. We can learn so much more about each other and this complex world by just talking to each other.