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Objective Phone Use During Time with One's Partner: Associations with Relationship and Individual Well-being.
Brandon T McDaniel1, Sabrina Uva1, Victor Cornet1
1Health Services and Informatics Research, Parkview Mirro Center for Research and Innovation, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA.
Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies
|December 5, 2025
Summary
Excessive smartphone use around a partner, known as technoference, negatively impacts relationship satisfaction and well-being, particularly for women. Objective tracking reveals this connection is more significant than overall daily phone usage.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Sociology
Background:
- Technoference, or phone interference in relationships, is a growing concern.
- Previous research relied heavily on self-reported smartphone usage.
- Objective measurement is needed to understand the impact of technology on relationships.
Purpose of the Study:
- To objectively measure smartphone use around partners.
- To investigate the link between smartphone use and relational/personal well-being.
- To explore gender differences in the effects of technoference.
Main Methods:
- Objective smartphone usage tracking over 8 days.
- Nightly time diaries to record relationship interactions.
- Linear regression analysis on 247 adult participants.
Main Results:
- Smartphone use around partners occurred 27% of the time, daily for 86% of participants.
- Phone use around partners predicted lower relationship satisfaction and coparenting quality, especially for women.
- General phone habits correlated with increased depression and decreased life satisfaction, particularly for women.
Conclusions:
- Objective smartphone use around partners is linked to reduced relationship satisfaction and personal well-being, with stronger effects observed in women.
- The study highlights the importance of objective measures in understanding technoference.
- Further research should integrate objective and subjective data to explore device use within relationships.
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