Attachment Style And Smartphone: Unknown Relationship In A Relationship

A mobile phone is an excellent medium for fast communication and entertainment; however, in romantic relationships, he often becomes a real stumbling block.

The content of the article

• 1 Phone use problem
• 2 What is attachment and why it plays a role
• 3 Types of attachment
• 4 How the type of attachment affects the use of gadgets

Phone i problem

Sometimes it is about over-control; sometimes - about an insulting attempt by a partner to "fit" into a phone or tablet. In some cases, partners do not have the opportunity to communicate normally with each other in the evening, since each of them is immersed in the contents of their phone.

Not all couples, however, are affected by the negative influence of the smartphone. Psychologists decided to find out what the determining factor in this regard is. And one of these important conditions, as it turned out, was the style of attachment.

What is attachment and why it plays a role2

In psychology, this term is understood as a special relationship that develops between a child and a parent (in the overwhelming majority of cases, a mother) during the first 2-3 years of life. Attachment is based on how the parent responds to the child's needs for care, attention, comfort, and safety.

If the mother is able to satisfy these needs, then the child develops a safe attachment style. Thus, during his life, he will be able to trust close people without fear of betrayal or hypertrophied fear of loss.

However, in many cases, it happens that the mother treats her child with disdain. In this case, the child develops a less constructive style - unsafe. It is important that this style of attachment, although formed at a very early age, becomes a template for a person's future romantic relationships.

Attachment types3

Several problematic attachment styles are known in psychology. One of them is the avoidant. It is difficult for people with this style to trust others. They value independence and autonomy from partners very much. During a quarrel or argument, such people prefer to distance themselves.

Those with an anxious type tend to be too close to their partner. They want to be practically one with him. Naturally, any person is repulsed by this. Such people are in constant fear of rejection: it seems to them that their partner can leave them at any moment. When disagreements arise, or the threat of separation arises, they begin to cling to the relationship with all their might.

Research shows that 30 to 40% of people are not endowed with a secure attachment style. Dozens of studies on this topic show that attitudes learned by a person in early childhood affect how his friendships and romantic relationships, sexual behavior will develop, and what place he will take in the social hierarchy. Recently, scientists are increasingly convinced that these factors also affect the way a person handles his mobile phone.

How attachment affects the use of gadgets4

In 2011, researchers Weiskirch and Delevy found that people with anxious attachment styles were more likely than others to send sexually explicit texts to their partners (called "sexting"). It was also revealed that representatives of this category, in principle, write messages more often.

In terms of avoidance, it has been found that these people call and text their partners much less. They tend to use email more often. The authors of the study suggest that representatives of this category prefer to use those means of communication in which personal contact with another person is minimal.

It was found that people with anxious attachment types were more likely to come into conflict when their partners immersed themselves in their gadgets for a long time. They suffered from the fact that their beloved pays little attention to them. And also such people believed that the main purpose of a smartphone is precisely communication, and not entertainment and other options.