Is social media ruining your chance to have a social life?

There is a new addiction in town and it's not the latest Chanel bag or even chocolate! It's social media. Social media; Instagram, Facebook, Twitter (and all the rest) are fast becoming the centre of our lives daily. And while we do agree that there are positive outcomes to technology, negatives come with it too.

In a new experiment, researchers found that even minor phone use during a meal with friends was enough to make one distracted and feel drained, thus ruining the chances of the person having a social life. Lead author of the study Ryan Dwyer, said, “People who were allowed to use their phones during dinner had more trouble staying present in the moment. Modern technology may be wonderful, but it can easily sidetrack us and take away from the special moments we have with friends and family in person.”

As part of the research, two studies — a field experiment in a restaurant and a survey wherein the participants were either asked to keep their phones on the table with the ringer or vibration on or to put their phones on silent and place them in a container on the table during the meal. After eating, the participants even had to fill out a questionnaire detailing their feelings of social connectedness, enjoyment, distraction and boredom, as well as the amount of phone use and what they did on their phones during the meal. The same participants were surveyed five times a day for one week and were asked to report on how they were feeling and what they had been doing in the 15 minutes before completing the survey.

The results of the experiment showed that the people reported feeling more distracted during face-to-face interactions if they had used their smartphone compared with face-to-face interactions where they had not used their smartphone. The students also said they felt less enjoyment and interest in their interaction if they had been on their phone. Co-author of the study, Elizabeth Dunn said, "The survey findings were especially notable because of the negative effects of phone use among university students, who are commonly known as digital natives. We assumed that this generation would be more adept at multi-tasking between using their phones and interacting with others, but we found out even moderate levels of phone use undermined the benefits of engaging with others."

After this, you might want to consider not using your phone tonight at the dinner table...