How to really switch off
Want a good night out? Then put away your phone, new study finds
IT’S the annoying modern habit that is killing the art of conversation: constantly checking your mobile phone when out with friends.
Now researchers have conducted a study to find out just how bad the phone’s impact is on our social life, and the findings show nearly everyone has a better night out when they put their phone away.
Professor Richard Layte, Head of Sociology at Trinity College, Dublin, and scientific adviser for the study, said: ‘This study provides new insights into our relationships with our phones in social settings. On the one hand, smartphones enable us to connect with friends, but they can also distract us and draw us away from the here and now when we’re with friends and family.
‘This study’s findings are scientific evidence that if we put our phones down when we meet with friends and family, we not only enjoy the experience more but also feel closer to them and have a greater sense of belonging.’
Guinness decided to find out just how much of an impact the phone is having on our social occasions so it conducted a strictly controlled experiment. It compared the experiences of a group of friends going on two nights out to the same pub – with even the same bar staff on duty.
The group went to the Dame Tavern in Dublin city centre on two consecutive Thursdays, with one difference: on the second night mobiles were put away. Some 94% said they enjoyed the second night far more with the phone tucked away. Just 6% of people who took part said they enjoyed the first night more, the study conducted by Behaviour & Attitudes found.
‘The results showed a dramatic positive shift on the night when phones were not in use,’ it said.
Now Guinness is launching its Switch to Pub Mode campaign ‘to celebrate the magic of quality catch-ups with friends in the pub’. The scientific evidence also showed that, as well as a substantial increase in enjoyment with their friends, people who put their phone down also felt more included in their group – an 18.4% positive shift. Also, people felt closer to their friends as a result of putting their phones down, with a 9.6% positive shift.
AnnMarie Phillips, a director of Diageo, which owns Guinness, said: ‘Switching to Pub Mode is about enjoying those conversations with good friends and letting the chat flow with your phones down and heads up.’ Switch to Pub Mode has been welcomed by more than 1,000 Irish publicans who see it as a positive move.
Donall O’Keeffe, of the Licensed Vintners Association, said: ‘The pub is the ultimate social network. Sometimes though, phones can get in the way of a great chat.’
‘Pub is the ultimate social network’