Conversational partners’ interactions in response to co-present mobile phone usage

ABSTRACT

The goals of the two studies were to identify common communicative responses to co-present mobile phone usage and conversational partners’ reactions to that communication, and to determine whether individuals perceive their communicative responses as effective. Study 1 identified common participant responses and partner (i.e., phone user) reactions to those responses. In Study 2, researchers coded data from a new sample for these same responses and reactions and measured participants’ perceived effectiveness and likelihood to use the same responses again. The most frequent responses were demanding/requesting to stop, asking partner about their phone use, and using humor/sarcasm. Stopping, apologizing and stopping, justifying the use, and continuing to use the phone were the most common partner reactions. Directness of communicative responses was unrelated to reaction valence. Most conversational partner reactions were positive, but when negative, participants rated direct responses as significantly less effective than indirect responses.

KEYWORDS:

• Co-present mobile phone use
• phubbing
• communicative responses
• response valence

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The data reported in Study 1 are part of a larger data set examining reactions to co-present mobile phone use. The entire sample included data from 697 participants that we analyzed for RQ1. RQ 2 and 3 are based only on data from those who reported saying or doing something in response to co-present phone usage. Due to limited space, we are unable to include data from the subset of participants who did not say or do anything in response to mobile phone use.

2. Participant numbers are reported in parentheses for exemplars of the responses in both Study 1 and Study 2.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lynne Kelly

Lynne Kelly (Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University) is a Professor in the School of Communication, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT.

Robert L. Duran

Robert L. Duran (Ph.D., Bowling Green State University) is an Emeritus Professor in the School of Communication, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT.

Aimee E. Miller-Ott

Aimee E. Miller-Ott (Ph.D., University of Nebraska, Lincoln) is a Professor in the School of Communication, Illinois State University, Normal, IL