Phubbing and Its Impact on the Quality of Interpersonal Communication: A Literature Review

Phubbing, the behavior of ignoring one’s conversation partner during face-to-face social interactions in favor of using a smartphone has become a pervasive psychosocial phenomenon in the digital age, with significant implications for the quality of interpersonal communication. This study presents a systematic literature review, guided by PRISMA reporting principles, of 16 peer-reviewed scientific articles published between 2020 and 2025, sourced from Google Scholar, DOAJ, and Semantic Scholar. Three main themes were identified: (1) the impact of phubbing on communication quality and relational satisfaction, (2) the psychological mechanisms underlying the impact of phubbing, including threats to basic needs, erosion of empathy, and attachment anxiety, and (3) contextual and individual factors that moderate phubbing behavior. The findings consistently show that phubbing threatens basic psychological needs, erodes empathy and interpersonal competence, and reduces relational satisfaction across various social contexts, although the strength and consistency of these effects vary by relationship type and cultural context. The implications of these findings are highly relevant for Indonesia as one of the countries with the highest smartphone usage rates in the world. This review provides a structured synthesis of the latest evidence, proposes an integrative conceptual framework linking phubbing to its psychological mechanisms and outcomes, and highlights the urgency of context-based empirical research in Indonesia.

phubbing, interpersonal communication, communication quality, psychological well-being, digital media

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