Abstract
Phubbing is the act of momentarily engaging with the smartphone during face-to-face conversations. Past research on phubbing treated this behaviour as a stable disposition, rather than a temporary impulse and because of that, the predictors investigated to explain this behaviour were also trait predictors. The present study treated phubbing as a temporary reaction. Furthermore, instead of examining stable dispositions to explain this behaviour, the study investigated the effect of the fleeting feeling of boredom and state fear of missing out (FoMo) on this momentary behaviour, which past research found they correlated. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of state FoMo in the relationship between state boredom and state phubbing. Data were collected from 325 smartphone users who completed an online survey. In addition to completing the state phubbing scale, the participants also completed the shortened version of the state boredom and the state of fear of missing out scales. The mediation analysis revealed that state FoMo partially mediated the effect of state boredom on state phubbing. That is, part of the effect of state boredom on state phubbing was transmitted to state phubbing through state FoMo. In serving as a mediator in the relationship between state boredom and state phubbing, state FoMo can be viewed as the excuse to phub in order to avoid or alleviate the negative feeling of state boredom. Future research can build on this finding to experimentally investigate the role of state FoMo in the relationship between state boredom and state phubbing.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Change history
05 May 2022
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41347-022-00257-3
References
Al-Saggaf, Y., MacCulloch, R., & Wiener, K. (2019). Trait boredom is a predictor of phubbing frequency. Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science, 4(3), 245–252. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41347-018-0080-4.
Al-Saggaf, Y., & O'Donnell, S. B. (2019). The role of state boredom, state of fear of missing out and state loneliness in state phubbing. Proceedings of the 30th Australasian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS), Perth, Australia. December 9th -11th, 2019.
Al-Saggaf, Y., & MacCulloch, R. (2018). Phubbing: how frequent? Who is Phubbed? In which situation? And using which apps? Proceedings of the Thirty Ninth International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), San Francisco (pp. 1-9). AISNET.
Blackwell, D., Leaman, C., Tramposch, R., Osborne, C., & Liss, M. (2017). Extraversion, neuroticism, attachment style and fear of missing out as predictors of social media use and addiction. Personality and Individual Differences, 116, 69–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.04.039.
Bolkan, S., & Griffin, D. J. (2017). Students’ use of cell phones in class for off-task behaviors: the indirect impact of instructors’ teaching behaviors through boredom and students’ attitudes. Communication Education, 66(3), 313–329. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634523.2016.1241888.
Davey, S., Davey, A., Raghav, S. K., Singh, J. V., Singh, N., Blanchio, A., & Przepiorkaa, A. (2017). Predictors and consequences of “phubbing” among adolescents and youth in India: an impact evaluation study Sanjeev. Journal of Family and Community Medicine, 24(1), 102–105. https://doi.org/10.4103/jfcm.JFCM.
Dayapoğlu, N., Kavurmaci, M., & Karaman, S. (2016). The relationship between the problematic mobile phone use and life satisfaction, loneliness, and academic performance in nursing students. International Journal of Caring Sciences May, 9(2), 2–647 Retrieved from www.internationaljournalofcaringsciences.org.
Elhai, J. D., & Contractor, A. A. (2018). Examining latent classes of smartphone users: Relations with psychopathology and problematic smartphone use. Computers in Human Behavior, 82, 159–166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.01.010.
Elhai, J. D., Levine, J. C., Dvorak, R. D., & Hall, B. J. (2016). Fear of missing out, need for touch, anxiety and depression are related to problematic smartphone use. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 509–516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.05.079.
Elhai, J. D., Vasquez, J. K., Lustgarten, S. D., Levine, J. C., & Hall, B. J. (2017). Proneness to boredom mediates relationships between problematic smartphone use with depression and anxiety severity. Social Science Computer Review, 36, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439317741087.
Fahlman, S. A., Mercer-lynn, K. B., Flora, D. B., & Eastwood, J. D. (2013). Development and validation of the multidimensional state boredom scale. Assessment, 20(1), 68–85. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191111421303.
Franchina, V., Vanden Abeele, M., van Rooij, A. J., LoCoco, G., & De Marez, L. (2018). Fear of missing out as a predictor of problematic social media use and phubbing behavior among Flemish adolescents. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15102319.
Karadağ, E., Tosuntaş, Ş. B., Erzen, E., Duru, P., Bostan, N., Şahin, B. M., Çulha, İ., & Babadağ, B. (2015). Determinants of phubbing, which is the sum of many virtual addictions: a structural equation model. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 4(2), 60–74. https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.4.2015.005.
Kardefelt-Winther, D. (2014). A conceptual and methodological critique of internet addiction research: Towards a model of compensatory internet use. Computers in Human Behavior, 31(1), 351–354. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.10.059.
Misra, S., Cheng, L., Genevie, J., & Yuan, M. (2014). The iPhone effect: The quality of in-person social interactions in the presence of mobile devices. Environment and Behavior, 48(2), 275–298.
Ng, A. H., Liu, Y., Chen, J. Z., & Eastwood, J. D. (2015). Culture and state boredom: a comparison between European Canadians and Chinese. Personality and Individual Differences, 75, 13–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.10.052.
Papacharissi, Z., & Rubin, A. M. (2000). Predictors of internet use. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 44, 175–196.
Przybylski, A. K., & Weinstein, N. (2013). Can you connect with me now? How the presence of mobile communication technology influences face-to-face conversation quality. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 30(3), 237–246. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407512453827.
Roberts, J. A., & David, M. E. (2016). My life has become a major distraction from my cell phone: Partner phubbing and relationship satisfaction among romantic partners. Computers in Human Behavior, 54, 134–141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.07.058.
Ugur, N. G., & Koc, T. (2015). Time for digital detox: misuse of mobile technology and phubbing. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 195, 1022–1031. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.06.491.
Wegmann, E., Oberst, U., Stodt, B., & Brand, M. (2017). Online-specific fear of missing out and internet-use expectancies contribute to symptoms of internet-communication disorder. Addictive Behaviors Reports, 5(February), 33–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.abrep.2017.04.001.
Wegmann, E., Ostendorf, S., & Brand, M. (2018). Is it beneficial to use internet-communication for escaping from boredom? Boredom proneness interacts with cue-induced craving and avoidance expectancies in explaining symptoms of internet-communication disorder. PLoS One, 13(4), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0195742.
Zuckerman, M. (1983). The distinction between trait and state scales is not arbitrary : comment on Allen and Potkay’s ‘on the arbitrary distinction between traits and states’. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44(5), 1083–1086 0022-3514/83/4405- 1083$00.7S.
Acknowledgment
The author wishes to thank Ms Sarah O'Donnell for her contribution to this research.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Data for this study was collected using Google Forms following receipt of ethics approval from the author‘s University Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC), which is equivalent to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) in the USA.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Al-Saggaf, Y. Phubbing, Fear of Missing out and Boredom. J. technol. behav. sci. 6, 352–357 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41347-020-00148-5
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41347-020-00148-5