""That is when the smartphone became more widely used," she noted. "That's affecting us in many different ways. Instead of spending leisure time around other people, we have this other option that offers [people] parasocial interactions, where they feel connected, but it's kind of like a snack instead of a meal of connection.""
"Our cellphones have become such an integral part of our lives, they can disrupt our engagement with others - even if you aren't looking at it or it's not on."
""There's an interesting study that found simply having a phone on the table decreases the quality of the conversation," said Franco, the author of "Platonic: How the science of attachment can help you make - and keep - friends.""
Thirty percent of Americans report feeling lonely weekly, and 10% report feeling lonely daily. Loneliness rose in the 1950s with television consuming time once spent with others. Smartphone adoption around 2012 added another driver by enabling parasocial interactions that feel like brief snacks of connection rather than nourishing social meals. Cellphones disrupt engagement even when not in use; their mere presence lowers conversation quality and reduces depth and vulnerability. These shifts in media and device habits make initiating, deepening, and maintaining adult friendships more difficult.
Read at HuffPost
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