Is Phubbing Ruining Your Relationships? Here’s What You Need To Know About the Connection-Killing Phone Habit

There’s no overstating the benefits of social connection and the IRL gatherings that facilitate it. Spending quality time with a partner, loved one, or friend isn’t just a boon for your emotional health and mental state; it can support your physical well-being, too, contributing to the kind of social support that’s been shown to boost cardiovascular health and even ward off chronic disease¹. But sometimes, it can feel like a one-on-one hangout involves a third party—except this one isn’t welcome nor is it even made of flesh and blood because, well, it’s a smartphone. If someone in your life is always making their phone the third wheel, they may have the bad habit of phubbing, an unfortunate portmanteau of “phone” and “snubbing.”