Phubbing: the Desire for Superficial Contacts with Others and the Avoidance of Deep Contacts with Oneself

Objective. Analysis of the relationships between phubbing behavior and the characteristics of communication skills, sociability, escapism and existential fulfillment of people aged 18 to 50 years. Background. In the situation of digitalization of society, it is important to understand new types of communicative norms of human interaction. There is a demand to uncover the main factors and predictors of phubbing behavior in modern society, as well as to understand the role of phubbing in changing the nature of communication.
Study design. The study revealed the relationship between phubbing behavior and communication and sociability of an individual. The relationships between phubbing patterns and indicators of existential fulfillment and the depth of contact with oneself and other people were also examined. The study was conducted using correlation analysis.
Participants. The study involved 316 people aged 18 to 50 years (54% women, 46% men). The sample was stratified by gender, age (youth/middle-aged people), and level of education (higher education/specialized secondary education).
Measurements. The following methods were used in the study: General Phubbing Scale (Phubber) (Chotpitayasunondh, Douglas, 2018); The Generic Scale of Being Phubbed (GSBP) (Phubbee) (Chotpitayasunondh, Douglas, 2018); Sociability test (Bogacheva, 2021); Methodology for measuring the level of expression of escapism (Teslavskaya, Savchenko, 2019); Test of existential motivation (TEM) (V.B. Shumsky, E.M. Ukolova, E.N. Osin, Ya.D. Lupandina, 2016).
Results. Phubbing behavior is interconnected with such personality characteristics as sociability, contact, social adaptability and ergicity. Escapism reduces the likelihood of phubbing behavior and is not a direct characteristic of it. Existential fulfillment, meaningfulness of life and one's future, satisfaction with one's life and oneself reduce the likelihood of phubbing in relation to a partner. Phubbing behavior is more pronounced in women. There is a connection between active phubbing and having a higher education. The vast majority of the sample (both young people and mature people) consider phubbing to be an acceptable social norm of modern communication.
Conclusions. The desire for quick, superficial and varied contacts increases the likelihood of phubbing in relation to a communication partner, and meaningfulness of one’s own life and deep contact with oneself reduces the likelihood of such behavior.

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