The impact of smartphones on relationship quality : an interest model perspective

• Main Authors: Choo, Melissa Yan Jie, Zhuang, Wileen Jia Hui, Yip, Miu Yen
• Other Authors: Michael David Gumert
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Psychology::Motivation
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/63413
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The use of Smartphones has become a modern phenomenon present in today's society. Recent advancements in mobile technology have allowed individuals to communicate with a vast network of others, essentially changing the way people traditionally communicate. In this paper, we attempt to explain how Smartphones may impede face-to-face interactions and result in a decline in relationship quality among individuals using the concept of interest attributions. Smartphones disrupts communication because of its ability to elicit high interest. Individuals are motivated and interested to use their Smartphones during a face-to- face interaction because it does not only satisfy their basic needs for belongingness and relatedness but it also gives them the ability to control and personalize their immediate environment and social networks. This paper thus posits that because Smartphones are tools of high interest that has an embedded and perpetual presence in our everyday lives, these devices are likely to intrude into public social space and interrupt face-to-face conversations. Changes to interpersonal communication patterns will henceforth reduce the development of depth in conversations and serve as an impediment to interpersonal closeness and reduce relationship quality.