IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jftint/v13y2021i4p100-d535933.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Linking Phubbing Behavior to Self-Reported Attentional Failures and Media Multitasking

Author

Listed:
  • Kayla S. Sansevere

    (Department of Psychology, Tufts University, 490 Boston Ave, Medford, MA 02155, USA)

  • Nathan Ward

    (Department of Psychology, Tufts University, 490 Boston Ave, Medford, MA 02155, USA)

Abstract

Phubbing, or using a phone to snub another person, has been investigated through social and personality frameworks. Phubbing involves attending to and performing competing tasks, implying the involvement of attentional abilities. Yet, past research has not yet used a cognitive framework to establish a link between phubbing and attention. Using self-report data from a large online sample, we explored the associations between phubbing and everyday attentional failures. Phubbing was associated with difficulties in attentional shifting and distractibility, frequent attentional lapses, spontaneous and deliberate mind wandering, and attention-related cognitive errors. When examining these attention variables alongside several psychosocial and personality variables, attention-related cognitive errors acted as the biggest predictor of phubbing behavior. Phubbing was also positively correlated with media multitasking, which is a conceptually similar yet distinct technology use behavior. The results suggest that perceived everyday attentional failures are strongly associated with, and to an extent can predict, phubbing behavior, even more so than some social and personality variables. Technology has incorporated itself as a necessity, or at the very least a favored convenience, in most people’s lives. Characterizing technology multitasking behaviors from a variety of frameworks can help us better understand who is engaging in these behaviors and why.

Suggested Citation

  • Kayla S. Sansevere & Nathan Ward, 2021. "Linking Phubbing Behavior to Self-Reported Attentional Failures and Media Multitasking," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-16, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jftint:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:100-:d:535933
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/13/4/100/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/13/4/100/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Abramova, Olga & Baumann, Annika & Krasnova, Hanna & Lessmann, Stefan, 2017. "To Phub or not to Phub: Understanding Off-Task Smartphone Usage and its Consequences in the Academic Environment," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 87717, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Viorel Rotila, 2018. "The Smartphone is One of the Externalizations of the Mind that Aspires to the Status of its Extension," Postmodern Openings, Editura Lumen, Department of Economics, vol. 9(4), pages 65-97, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jftint:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:100-:d:535933. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.