Therapist issues warning over alarming bedroom phone habit that could be ruining your relationship

Phones can get in the way of a lot of things whether it's dinners, social interactions and or even our personal relationships.

So much so that a therapist has warned about the habit of using phones in the bedroom, which could potentially damage your relationship.

You might have heard of the trend 'phubbing', a portmanteau of the words 'phone' and 'snubbing'.

It basically means ignoring your partner by being absorbed in your phone.

Your partner is the most important person in the room until your phone pings and your priorities change.

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Couples and family therapist Tracy Ross has raised concerns about a new development of phubbing that's affecting relationships called 'parallel scrolling.'

This is when both partners are together in a room but engrossed in their own phones, scrolling through social media or other apps.

'Many of the couples I work with complain that their partner is constantly on their phone, distracted, and that it’s hard to get their attention,' Ross said in the Huffington Post.

Sometimes both parties are to blame: 'Parallel scrolling - or just generally being on your phone - prevents the sharing of experiences, feelings and worries, creating more separateness, which is the opposite of connection.'

This issue is particularly troubling in the bedroom, where couples might be physically present but mentally checked out. Both partners are in their own scrolling worlds lost in a sea of tweets and TikToks.

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The therapist said doing this was 'basically decreasing the chances of intimacy and affection' as it kills the connection between couples.

Having a bit of a scroll on your phone is not going to be the end of the world but if it starts taking over your free time and life then it becomes a more significant problem.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with sharing a good meme every now and then. In fact, Ross suggests making it a shared activity by showing your partner what you're looking at which can turn the whole scrolling session into a bonding experience.

Ultimately, Ross recommends asking the question: 'Do we want to keep scrolling?' to encourage putting the phones down and focusing on each other instead.

It might even be easier to keep the phones out of the bedroom entirely to stop the temptations.