<p>Having a cell phone in the room, let alone using it, can be harmful to your relationship, a new study has found.</p>.<p><br />Recent research shows that just having your mobile device in the room can negatively impact your interactions with other people, according to the researchers from Essex University.<br /><br />In a study titled “Can you connect with me now?” researchers Andrew K Przybylski and Netta Weinstein performed two experiments to see how the presence of a cellular phone affected the dynamics between two people, the ‘New York Daily News’ reported.<br />They asked pairs of strangers to sit together in private booths where a book had been placed out of their direct line of sight.<br /><br />In addition to the book, each booth had one other object. One set of subjects could also see a notebook in their peripheral vision, while the other set could see a cell phone out of the corner of their eyes.<br /><br />The strangers were then asked to share a personal story of an interesting event that had happened to them in the last month, after which researchers asked them questions about the relationship they had formed.</p>.<p><br />Even in the short interaction, each pair was only together for 10 minutes, the difference between having a phone in the background versus not having one was notable.<br />The strangers who were seated within eyeshot of a phone felt less close and reported a lower quality of relationship with their partner, than those who were placed in an environment without a phone in the background.<br /><br />During a second experiment in which pairs of strangers engaged in both casual and meaningful conversations, the researchers again found that when a mobile phone was present it “predicted lower relationship quality.”</p>
<p>Having a cell phone in the room, let alone using it, can be harmful to your relationship, a new study has found.</p>.<p><br />Recent research shows that just having your mobile device in the room can negatively impact your interactions with other people, according to the researchers from Essex University.<br /><br />In a study titled “Can you connect with me now?” researchers Andrew K Przybylski and Netta Weinstein performed two experiments to see how the presence of a cellular phone affected the dynamics between two people, the ‘New York Daily News’ reported.<br />They asked pairs of strangers to sit together in private booths where a book had been placed out of their direct line of sight.<br /><br />In addition to the book, each booth had one other object. One set of subjects could also see a notebook in their peripheral vision, while the other set could see a cell phone out of the corner of their eyes.<br /><br />The strangers were then asked to share a personal story of an interesting event that had happened to them in the last month, after which researchers asked them questions about the relationship they had formed.</p>.<p><br />Even in the short interaction, each pair was only together for 10 minutes, the difference between having a phone in the background versus not having one was notable.<br />The strangers who were seated within eyeshot of a phone felt less close and reported a lower quality of relationship with their partner, than those who were placed in an environment without a phone in the background.<br /><br />During a second experiment in which pairs of strangers engaged in both casual and meaningful conversations, the researchers again found that when a mobile phone was present it “predicted lower relationship quality.”</p>