The iPhone effect
Continuing our conversation about being present to those we are trying to communicate with, have you ever heard of "The iPhone Effect"?
The iPhone effect is a term researchers came up with to describe the impact of the smartphone on communication.
The researchers split people into two groups. One group sat down and chatted with someone they had never met while a smartphone was visible on the table next to them. The other group sat down and chatted with someone they had also never met while a notebook rather than a smart phone was visible to them.
Guess what?
The group who had the smartphone in sight reported a significantly diminished quality of interaction vs. the group that did not have the smartphone in sight.
Here is the interesting thing: the phone was not ringing or pinging during the experiment. In fact the phone did not even belong to the people that were participating in the study – it was someone else's phone! The MERE PRESENCE of the smartphone diminished the quality of their interactions.
It seems that human beings today are so addicted to devices that their attention is drawn to devices that may not even be theirs rather than being focused on the people that they are communicating with.
Sounds crazy, right?
What does this mean for us?
It means that we cannot improve our relationships with people unless we change our relationships with our devices (tweet that!)
So the next time you're spending time with someone, remember The iPhone Effect!! Put your phone out of sight—and, ideally, in airplane mode so that the pings and tings of incoming messages do not distract you.
But…only if you want to enhance the quality of your interactions and improve your communication!
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