Technology has become a source of tension in relationships for millions of American couples, according to study released this week by the Pew Research Center. One in four adults — and nearly one in two young adults aged 18-29 — say they feel their spouse or partner has been distracted by a cell phone when they were together. One in five young adults have had an argument about the time their partner spends online, and about half the number has gotten angry about something their partner was doing online.
Meanwhile, 1 in 4 adults have texted their partner while they were both home. Perhaps this might be an indication that Americans have very large houses.
On the plus side, technology can provide an additional avenue for conflict resolution – 9 percent said they’d settled a fight online or via text that they were having trouble getting past in person.
These are some of the finding in Pew’s new report, “Couples, the Internet, and Social Media.”
Only 10 percent of recipients said technology has “major impact” on their relationship, and a majority of those said the impact was positive. Still, gadgets are shoe-horning themselves into all sorts of relationship situations — 20 percent said they’d either sent or received a sext message.
Tanya Schevitz — spokesperson for a organization devoted to unplugging called ReBoot — warns that heavy tech use is interfering in our relationships.
“This message is reverberating throughout our society: Our relationship with technology is taking over our ability to be present in our interpersonal relationships,” Schevitz said in a column on PBS.org. “This is a struggle that impacts every family and couple I know…Everywhere you look — playgrounds, dinner tables, sidewalks and cafes — people are glued to their phones and tablets, texting and emailing or scrolling through Facebook. Children and loved ones constantly hear, ‘Just a minute’ or a distracted ‘Uh-huh’ as heads are buried into connected devices.”
Smartphones (and other devices, like tablets) are even getting in the way of our relationship with TV — and each other. Fully 85 percent of tablet or smartphone owners use the device as a “second-screen” while watching TV, according to Nielsen. While this can make watching TV a more social experience for those who would otherwise be watching along, it can really interfere with family living room dynamics.
Some families deal with the problem by banning cell phone use at the dinner table. Do you have tech use rules at your house?
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