Phubbing: What Is It And How It Ruins Your Relationship

“Phubbing”, the word might sound weird at first. But wait! Is it an abbreviated hybrid of “phone” and “subbing”? In facts, this is a newly minted term of Gen Y referring to someone who pays too much attention to the phone instead of his/her partner.

While the term is quite new, this situation has been happening among young couples. From restaurant to the coffee shop, from park to the library, it’s not hard to spot out a couple sitting next to each other while one (or both of them) staring eyes on a phone or a technology device.

The whole generation is getting addicted to their phone, and no one could realise it. According to Lorrae Bradbury, a sex expert and founder of the sex-positive site, Slutty Girl Problems, our phones allow us to connect the whole world and watch it changing every second. It’s always fresh and appealing, unlike our partner who is familiar and looks the same every day.

Once you dip a toe into social media, there is no way to get back!

Social Media Can Affect Our Sex Experience

Ira Israel, a counsellor and psychotherapist, has a concern that wasting personal time on social media like Instagram or Twitter is a sign of emotional infidelity. It sounds a bit exaggerative, but it’s true that getting addicted to the split-screen for a long time might kill your relationship. It will be easy for us to lose out attention on everything else, even making love.

When you pay too much attention to the screen, you can barely notice anything else happening around. If scrolling up and down your phone is how you begin and end up a day, it negatively affects the quality of your “pillow talk”. That is the precious time you should spend on communicating with your partner, physically and emotionally.

Take Priority

As a consequence of exposing to technology for a long time, it has become an essential part of your life. You will find it uncomfortable without a phone in your hand. However, it’s our partner who is much more important. 

"When you are with another human being and are multi-tasking - answering your phone, checking your texts and emails, etc. you are subconsciously signalling to them that they are not your primary concern," he says. So, what is your priority? Your phone or your relationship? You’re the one who can decide!