Instant Impact – Are you phubbing your colleagues?

You’re sitting in a brainstorming session. The conversation is lively, ideas are flowing, and everyone is engaged. Then you hear it: the familiar ping of a phone notification.

Do you check it? Or do you resist the urge and wait until the meeting is over?

If the ping wins, you have just phubbed a colleague.

A portmanteau of "phone" and "snubbing," phubbing is the act of paying less attention to the person in front of you than to the device in your hand. And it's not a fringe habit: one study found that almost 90 per cent of people used their smartphones during their most recent social interaction.

Karen MacMillan, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behaviour at Ivey Business School, has been following the growing body of research on phubbing to better understand its impact at work – and why we so readily give our phones our attention, even when someone else is right in front of us.

After all, we know there are social rules around paying attention.

“Could you imagine pulling out a book and starting to read while you’re talking to someone? Or putting on headphones while your colleague is updating you on a new project?” she asked. “We would be embarrassed to do either of those things. Yet somehow, we don’t seem to feel the same way about phubbing.”

So, how has phubbing become so normalized?

According to MacMillan, the prevalence of phubbing starts with the device itself.

Think about how often your phone is within arm’s reach. It’s beside you at your desk, at the dinner table, and on the nightstand while you sleep. For many, being without it for even a few minutes feels unusual – and, in some cases, being separated from it can leave us feeling irritable and even a little lost, according to one study.

That is a remarkable shift from less than two decades ago. In 2007, only four per cent of American adults owned a smartphone. Today, smartphones are nearly ubiquitous, with some studies reporting that users interact with their phones an average of 85 times a day. And it’s no wonder. Today’s smartphone is not merely a means of communication; it is an instant portal to virtually everything the world has to offer.

Beyond their omnipresence, smartphones are also designed to capture our attention. Push notifications, infinite scroll, and social validation – i.e. likes, replies, and shares – are deliberately built into many apps to keep us coming back.

But perhaps the most compelling reason we phub is that the behaviour is contagious.

“When a person gets phubbed, they start to think that it is socially acceptable behaviour, and so they do it to others, who do it to others, and so the practice grows,” explained MacMillan.

Like many undesirable habits, that social contagion is powerful. In one study , even people who described phubbing as annoying and disrespectful reported engaging in the behaviour themselves. The more people do it, the more normal it becomes.

Is phubbing really that bad?

If phubbing has become so socially acceptable, you might wonder: how bad can it really be? With the pace of modern life and so many demands competing for our attention, what is the harm in a quick glance at your phone?

Quite a lot, it turns out.

In the workplace, phubbing can undermine the quality of conversations, stifling collaboration and the kind of spontaneous thinking that happens when people are fully engaged. But the cost goes beyond the conversation itself, eroding closeness, connection, and, most importantly, trust.

“Trust is the foundation of a healthy workplace. It influences productivity, innovation, collaboration, and even whether people want to stay,” said MacMillan. “When trust erodes, performance and job satisfaction can suffer.”

The impact can be even greater when the person doing the phubbing is a leader.  Research has found that employees who are phubbed by their supervisors report lower trust, weaker performance, and less engagement at work.

And the effects don’t stop at the office. Parental phubbing can leave children feelingundervalued and may increase adolescents’ risk of smartphone addiction.

Romantic relationships are not immune, either. Partner phubbing has been linked to weaker relationship bonds, lower relationship satisfaction and higher rates of depression.

Clearly, that seemingly harmless glance is anything but.

Can we break the phubbing cycle?

Given its effects, MacMillan argues that workplace leaders have a role to play in setting clearer norms around phone use.

“This is not a problem that is just going to go away on its own. If expectations are not set, smartphones will continue to interfere with work and relationships,” she said.

To help break the cycle, MacMillan recommends five steps:

1. Start with awareness. Train leaders and employees on how phone use can influence trust, relationships, and connectivity.

2. Lead by example. Leaders can model healthy phone habits by giving face-to-face conversations their full attention rather than immediately responding to texts or emails.

3. Create phone-free spaces. Consider making lunchrooms and meeting rooms phone-free. Putting a phone face down does not eliminate the distraction; research suggests that its mere presence can reduce conversation quality, even when it is not being used.

4. Track and set limits. Encourage employees to track their phone use and set personal boundaries, such as daily screen-time limits, phone-free conversation parameters, and phone-free spaces.

5. Offer support. For people struggling to control their phone use, provide resources and support to help them develop healthier habits.

Putting people before pings

Smartphones may feel inevitable, but in the long arc of social life they are still new arrivals. We are all, collectively, still writing the rules for how to live with them.

What the research on phubbing makes increasingly clear is this: when our phones compete with the people in front of us, our connections erode – not just in the office but at home too.

That doesn't mean the solution is to swear off our phones. The problem isn't the phone. It's the attention it takes.

“Our phones do a lot of good. They keep us in touch, they make life easier, and – let’s be honest – who doesn't love a cute penguin video?" said MacMillan. "But no phone has ever noticed when you weren't really present. You know who does? The people around you.”

So, notice them back. The next time you’re talking with someone and think about reaching for your phone, try to stay in the conversation. The screen, almost certainly, can wait.

Karen MacMillan is an Assistant Professor at Ivey Business School, where she teaches courses in Organizational Behaviour in the School’s HBA and Executive Education programs. One of Ivey’s first Teacher Scholars, she focuses on both research and making learning engaging and effective. A number of her cases have reached best-seller status, used by educators and tens of thousands of students across the globe. She recently released a new business novel – Hazel: An Emerging Leader – available on Amazon.