Oh no: your phone is secretly sabotaging your relationship

Do you always have wonderful contact with your sweetheart when you are busy with your own lives, but does the tension immediately drop when you are together? Then it might just be that something you always have with you is sabotaging your relationship. You probably guessed it: your phone can throw quite a wrench in the works of your once so passionate relationship. And who can blame us? Research shows that 40 percent of people can't go a day without their phone, and I recently caught myself having a real iPhone dent in my right pinky from holding my phone too often and too long. That's quite something. It wouldn't surprise me if the next generation is born with such a pinky dent to make this addiction even easier to manage. But well, it's a sneaky saboteur, that phone. And you really have to be careful, because 17 percent of people report having less fun in their relationship due to their partner's excessive phone use.

So limit that screen time. Because before you know it, your phone causes the following problems in your relationship:

1. Reduced quality of interactions
Research shows that using smartphones during personal interactions reduces the quality of those interactions, especially if the use is prolonged. This can be harmful to relationships where partners spend a lot of time together. Because your partner is busy with their phone, there's a good chance you'll keep certain things to yourself, because the other isn't listening anyway. And that seems quite lonely to me...

2. Hindrance to deep conversations
Smartphones can reduce the desire to be open and vulnerable about sensitive topics in a relationship. The lack of attention makes people less inclined to open up. The result? Only short and superficial conversations with the one you would like to share everything with.

3. Inability to divide attention
Multitasking with a smartphone during conversations is often ineffective and makes people less attentive and polite towards others. Say it with me: nodding three times and responding a few times with ‘mhmm’ does not equal a real conversation.

4. Lack of eye contact
Eye contact is essential for the feeling of connection in your relationship. Someone who only exchanges flirtatious glances with their phone screen sabotages the feeling of commitment and stability, causing your relationship to quickly become unstable.

Source: Power of Positivity, Together Healthy