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A health expert is here to tell you how you could be ruining your relationship with a common bad habit that most of us are unaware we're doing.
It's a recurring theme nowadays – stumbling upon a new term that perfectly sums up something you didn't even realise was happening, especially in relationships. Isn't there always something we could stop or do better?
One recent example is 'ghostlighting' - a intriguing mix of ghosting and gaslighting - in which someone disappears from your life and shows up again as if nothing happened.
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Another new term - or bad habit - to be aware of now is phubbing.
At initial glance, you might think it's a type of snubbing. An act where you refuse to acknowledge someone's presence. And you'd be close!
Phubbing is the gruelling combination of the words 'phone' and 'snubbing'. It describes the act of ignoring your other half every time your phone notifies you - whether that be breaking news about Kim K or a bland work email.
Most notably, phubbing takes place when you're on a date or over dinner - your phone becomes the spotlight of the room.
If this sounds like something you might be guilty of, then you're not alone.
Health expert Michael Mosely has held up his hands and confessed to being a phubber himself in a Daily Mail column, where he described annoying his wife by paying more attention to his phone's pings over his wife's voice.
Mosely backed this up with a recent study that found a relationship between phubbing and its 'significant negative impact on marital satisfaction'.
And let's face it, if you're on the other side of the table and your partner's face lights up more over a phone than you talking, you're going to get a little frustrated. As you can imagine, the face-to-face, romantic conversation dies, potentially causing a major rift in your relationship over time.
Now, phones have been helpful for years, getting us out awkward silences on dates by getting our friend to give us a fake emergency call. But now, it seems mobiles are causing more problems than they solve when it comes to official, long-term relationships, keeping the romance - or just the art of conversation - alive.
If your attention constantly drifts every time your phone lights up, phubbing is likely brewing trouble for your long-term partner.
The solution? When you're next having dinner with that special someone, make sure to keep your phones on silent, off, or even out of sight entirely to resist the temptation.
