A health expert has issued a warning against a toxic dating trend called 'phubbing', which you can add to the ever growing roster of words and phrases to describe how we screw up our connections with those closest to us.
The latest one kids these days are into is something called 'ghostlighting', which combines ghosting and gaslighting into a very unpleasant combination of disappearing from your life and then show up again acting like they were never away in the first place.
Alternatively, you could be on the lookout for getting 'zombied', which sounds quite like 'ghostlighting' as they both involve getting ghosted before the person abruptly returns.
Anyhow, today we're here to relay to you a warning about phubbing and why it's so bad for you.
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So don't you be phubbing in your relationships now, young folks, because a doctor on TV has told you it's a very bad idea.
"But Joe," I figuratively hear you cry, "what even is this 'phubbing' malarkey you speak of?"
I'm very glad you asked that because it's a portmanteau of 'phone' and 'snubbing' where you're on a date with that someone special but every time your phone pings it become the centre of your attention.
Rather than paying attention to the romantically connected human being right in front of them they'll dig their phone out of their pocket to keep up with the latest updates from the group chat and read bland marketing emails.
As you might have guessed this isn't the healthiest of behaviours in a relationship and health expert Michael Mosley has weighed in on why.
In his Daily Mail column the TV doctor confessed that he was a phubber himself and that it really annoyed his wife, who would sometimes take the phone out of his hand to underline the point that it's really quite rude to care more about the pings and bleeps of your phone than your nearest and dearest.
He also said that a recent relationship study found that phubbing 'significantly and negatively predicted marital satisfaction'.
Put simply, if you're phubbing then the chances of a long term relationship working out are much lower as they get sick of the sight of your stupid face as it lights up more when you look at your phone than when you look at them.
People who were in a relationship with someone who was phubbing tended to be less satisfied with their life overall as the distracted relationship weighed them down.
Don't be such a phubbing idiot, put the phone down and gaze lovingly into your partner's eyes for a bit.
Topics: Sex and Relationships, Phones
Joe Harker