Phubbing friends: understanding face threats from, and responses to, friends’ cell phone usage through the lens of politeness theory
Abstract
The study examined friends’ phubbing (i.e., the act of snubbing a relational partner by using a cell phone in his/her presence), through the lens of politeness theory. Quantitative and qualitative data from 404 participants revealed that, although most accepted the behavior and did not view it as a face-threatening act (FTA), others perceived it as face threatening, particularly of positive face, eliciting varied negative emotions. Specific behaviors such as repeatedly looking at the phone or playing a game alone had the highest positive face-threat scores. Most chose not to respond to the FTA. Results indicated that increased perception of the behavior as face threatening was associated with higher reported likelihood of responding with politeness strategies, although no specific strategy emerged as the preferred response.
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Recent research suggests that phubbing can negatively impact others across interactions between friends, romantic partners, and parents and children.
“Research in this area has suggested that phubbing can negatively impact others across interactions between friends [45], romantic partners [46,47], and parents and children [48,49,50].”
From The effects of smartphones on well-being: theoretical integration and research agenda (2020) · cites this paper as [45]
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“Relatedly, negative face threats did not emerge as important in contrast to Miller-Ott and Kelly (2017), perhaps due to the measure used.”
BackgroundA Politeness Theory Analysis of Cell-Phone Usage in the Presence of Friends
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The effects of smartphones on well-being: theoretical integration and research agenda
Kushlev, K., & Leitao, M. R. (2020) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.05.001 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
- Authors
- Kelly, L., Miller-Ott, A. E., & Duran, R. L.
- Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Aimee E. Miller-Ott (M. A., California State University Fullerton; Ph.D. University of Nebraska, Lincoln) is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication at Illinois State University.
- West Virginia University (US)
- ORCID
- Kelly, Lynne
- Venue
- Communication Quarterly
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2019-09-26
- Volume
- 67
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 540-559
- ISSN
- 0040-8573 (ISSN-L)
- 0146-3373
- 1746-4102
- OpenAlex
- W2975104121
- Semantic Scholar
- 2c9679c17c2598802aa08c2f3185af93fdb3c923
- Cited by
- 43
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 4
- FWCI
- 20.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Communication Quarterly (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Digital Communication and Language
- Keywords
- phubbing, face-threatening acts, politeness strategies, positive face, negative face, mobile phone use, interpersonal relationships, friends, facework
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