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,