Just imagine couples of the future sitting in silence and mobile phones buzzing. Relationships based on text messages and status updates. The ability to talk or communicate face-to-face completely eradicated. Phubbing is a problem!
What is Phubbing?
The term Phubbing was coined from Mobile Phone and Snub; it is the act of ignoring someone in a social place by concentrating on your phone instead of paying attention to that person. Most people are so much attached to their mobile phones which makes them unaware of the distressing effect their behavior has on others. The act is causing many problems nowadays, especially on relationships and it has become such a normal part of our lives.
I remembered back in the days before the emerge of smartphones, we used to show friends and family photo albums by turning the pages of the album with a memory of every photo taken or write a romantic letter to your girlfriend/boyfriend. Remember the time some of us used to rock with Walkman to listen to music, cameras with film. Well, technology has changed all that. We have everything on our fingertips now. Smartphones has become a major distraction in our lives too and some of us don’t use the technology wisely.
“Phubbing with mobile phones and the internet is definitely replacing normal social interaction.”
87% of teenagers will prefer communicating via mobile phones than face-to-face. This is drastically eradicating social interaction. Most phubbers don’t actually know or care where and when not to phub. Some will phub while on a date, in a meeting, at the office attending to a client, walking on a busy road, talking with elders or friends, in a class while the teacher is giving lectures, at the mosque or church, while driving, and some will even phub while in bed with their partner.
Let me ask you this question, how will you feel when you’re trying to have a very important conversation with someone and the person is busy on the phone? Definitely, you will get upset. Well I have noticed that some also use phubbing to stay away from uninteresting conversions.
“If it doesn’t stop it could be the end of human civilisation”
There is a special campaign called Stop Phubbing campaign to stop or reduce the act of phubbing.
Ousman Faal [Digital Vigilante] is a Tech Entrepreneur & Digital Skills Trainer who teaches both in the classroom and online. He has experience in various technologies and likes sharing it with others. Ousman has published 149 articles on this blog. He is the CEO of Faalen Technologies and Skills.gm.
