Reader\'s Digest Australia & New Zealand - June 2018

June• 2018 | 53

READER’S DIGEST

each person staring at a phone.

his has impacted the genera-

tion’s communication skills.

“Young people find it very

difficulttodeveloptheskill

of talking to another person

and paying attention to an-

other person without engag-

ing with a smartphone,” Kuss

says. “hey may have trouble

having real-life conversa-

tionsinawaythatweolder

generations may be used to

connecting to people and en-

gaging in deep and meaning-

ful conversation.”

ASilentForce

Smartphonesaresoinfluen-

tial,theycanhavepowerover

aconversationevenwhentheyaren’t

in use. Researchers have found that

whenasmartphoneisplacedona

table – even if the phone’s owner isn’t

activelyusingit–thedepthofmeal-

time conversation plummets.

“Our study found that when the

phonewaswithinsightofoneorboth

conversation partners, the partici-

pants reported poorer quality of con-

versations and lower levels of

empathetic exchange,” says study

author Shalini Misra. “Rather than

being a benign background object,

smartphonesthatareinsightcan

distract individuals from their

in-person context.”

Becausepeoplemayrealisethat

they can be interrupted, they’re

distracted by his phone,” Gommers
says.“WhenIasksomething,hewill
answer,butIcantellthathismindis
elsewhere. here is always someone
whosendsatext,andthatmeansthe
endoftheconversation,becauseit
requires an answer.
“Forawhile,hewastotallyad-
dictedtoWordfeud,anonlineword
puzzle game you can play with anon-
ymous others. As soon as he started
agame,youwerenolongerallowed
tospeak,becausehecouldn’tfocus.”
Because younger people grew up
with a lot of exposure to technology,
they’re more likely than older folks to
use smartphones in social settings,
and they’re considerably more likely
to sit silently with a group of peers,