Developing and Testing a Scale Designed to Measure Perceived Phubbing

Abstract

Phubbing (phone snubbing) has become a commonplace behavior. The more we are phubbed the more likely we are to phub others. The extraordinary attention-grabbing ability of the smartphone would only be an interesting story if not for its impact on social media use and, ultimately, stress and depression. In Study 1 (n = 258, M_age = 20), we develop a parsimonious and valid measure of phubbing. Extant “phubbing” measures all lack important qualities needed to be able to assess phubbing with a brief and valid scale that can be replicated and used in a variety of research settings. In Study 2 (n = 157, M_age = 39), we test and extend the David and Roberts (2017) phubbing model, while further validating our perceived phubbing measure. We use Social Exchange Theory and Kardefelt-Winther’s (2014) model of compensatory internet use as theoretical support for our expected findings. Results find that phubbed individuals experience a sense of social exclusion that, paradoxically, is associated with an increased use of social media. This increased use of social media is associated with higher reported levels of anxiety and depression. Future research directions and study limitations are discussed.