relation, and removing stress due to its wifi feature.

THE IMPACT OF PHUBBING ON This feature can facilitate someone to acquire

GENERATION Z SOCIAL INTERACTIONS information. Its negative impact causes a person to
Rois, Aulia Nur experience changes in social interaction behaviors
Fakultas Ilmu Sosial dan Humaniora and verbal communication disorders both directly
and indirectly (Mariati & Sema, 2019). Another
UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta negative impact that occurs is the raising of
Yogyakarta phubbing phenomenon.
[email protected] Phubbing is currently occurring in every
Purwani, Diah Ajeng social layer, including students. Phubbing
phenomenon is a tendency to play around with
Fakultas Ilmu Sosial dan Humaniora
smartphone rather than establishing direct
UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta interactions with the surrounding people. Phubbing
Yogyakarta is taken from the words phone and snubbing, used
to indicate an attitude that harms the interlocutor by
[email protected]
excessive smartphone usage (Hanika, 2015). The
harming is essentially in the context of the feeling
Abstract— The invention of smartphones as a form of being disrespected because the interlocutor
of advancement in communication andinformation frequently looks at the smartphone. Phubbing can
technology gave rise to a behaviour called also be interpreted as a behaviour that ignores other
phubbing. Phubbing is a smartphone- focused people during social interactions as the person is
attitude that ignores the interlocutor. This study focused more on his cell phone (Ratnasary &
aims to know in-depth the impact of phubbing in Oktaviani, 2020).
social interaction on generation Z. The type of
research used is descriptive studies with qualitative Phubbing can be caused by the anxiety of
approaches. Data collection methods are conducted not accessing smartphone in a long time. This
by interviewing, observation, and documentation. condition is usually referred to as nomophobia (no
The informant in this study is a student of the mobile phone phobia) (Hanika, 2015). Robert
Communication Science class of 2018. This study Kaunt (in Sparks, 2013:261) states that individuals
uses the theory of Media Dependence (Media who excessively use their smartphones will have
Dependency). This theory sees the audience's short attention span. At this level, they unable to
dependence on themedia, where the audience has understand the delivered information
different degrees of dependence ranging from comprehensively because technologies such as
individuals, groups, and even cultures. The higher smartphone causes disorders. The long term effect
the dependence on the media, the greater the of excessive smartphone use is they would
influence of such communication. The results experience health disorders (Hanika, 2015).
showed that impacts of phubbing in generation Z Smartphone usage can affect transactional
socialinteractions include: Miss Communications, processes. The dynamic and reciprocal
decreased value in the message conveyed by the communication quality is felt to have decreased,
communicator, decreased quality in relationships, especially during the face-to-face interaction
social exclusion, becoming a topic among students, (Mariati & Sema, 2019).
decreased empathy towards the interlocutor, losing A person with phubbing behaviour uses
information during the ongoing coversation, and smartphone as the escape to avoid discomfort in a
wasting time during the assignment completion. crowd. For instance, in a lift or during traveling
Keywords— Phubbing, Social Interaction, alone in public transports. At present, phubbing
Generation Z, Smartphone behaviour is getting worse, young people are not
only doing phubbing because they are in public
transports, they do it at any time and to everyone,
1. INTRODUCTIONS either towards the elder people or their peers, even
when teachers explain materials in class (Youarti &
The use of smartphone has positive and Hidayah, 2018).
negative impacts. Positive impacts encompass
facilitating communication, improving social Phubbing is considered as inappropriate
1
behaviour that can harm emotional intimacy in device actuallycauses disruptions in direct
human interaction (T’ng et al., 2018). communications,
Smartphonethat is meant to be a communication
whereas Indonesian people have eastern culture, Media Dependency Theory
namely having characteristics that still follow Stanley and Davis (2010) reveal that
values, norms, and ethics in a relationship that is Media Dependency Theory is a theory of media
based on mutual respect when being involved in a system dependency. The assumption of this theory
conversation (Hanika, 2015). is the more someone depends his needs to be
Smartphone usage is certainly substantiated fulfilled by media usage, the more important the
by internet usage. The internet is mostly used by role of media in the life of the person
youngpopulation and Indonesia is one of the (Hidayatullah, 2017). This theory was proposed
countries with the highest young population and developed by Sandra Ball Rokeach and
amidst world countries (Purwani, 2021). This Melvin DeFleur in 1975 (Musfialdy, 2020).
condition shows that the current young generation According to McQuail (2010), this theory
have the potentialto conduct phubbing. Most of the assumes that an individual is an active person in
young generationhave relied their lives on determining the media option to use (Hadi, 2020).
electronic gadgets, including smartphone. They Grant et al. (1991) reveals that in this theory,
use it for various needs, such as the supporting individuals actively choose media they use, hear,
device to doassignments, finding knowledge, watch, and read. The bigger expectation of
finding reading sources, and following updates individuals for information that can help them to
(Ratnasary & Oktaviani, 2020). Especially, reach their purpose, the stronger their dependency
generation Z that is characterized as very familiar on such media. As long as they are not disappointed
with technologies, and phubbing is born due to by the media, which means that individuals have to
technological advances. This generation gets i- rely on specific media to fulfil their needs (Hadi,
generation as their nickname. By year of birth, 2020).
generation Z born between 1996-2010 (Putra,
2016). According to this theory, media realize
their capability to create dependency towards
Phubbing behaviour will threaten the audiences and capable to reach goals through
social interaction of generation Z if it happens several stages, namely:
continuously. Thus, it is very important to know
• Individuals are interested with the media
profoundly the impact of phubbing behaviour on
that have diverse contents to fulfil their
students as the future young generation of the
needs.
nation, including Communication Science students
• The higher intensity, the stronger cognitive
who become the subject of this study. In practice,
and affective boosts .
Communication Science students study various
• Cognitive and affective boosts activate a
forms of communications and how to interact
higher engagement level that allows
properly. They would certainly attempt to achieve
reception and memorization process
effective communication. However, in reality, the
towards information.
researcher discovered phubbing behaviour among
Communication Science students. In addition, most • A bigger involvement allows the increase of
of them have not been aware of the term of this media effects towards individuals at
phenomenon despite many of them have realized cognitive, affective, and behavioural levels
the occurrence of phubbing behaviour. Based on in a long term (Musfialdy, 2020).
this gap, the researcher was interested to raise the There are three effects of Dependency Media
phubbing theme into the study with Theory, namely:
Communication Science students of UIN Sunan
Kalijaga Yogyakarta in the class of 2018-2019 as a. Cognitive effect is the effect occurs in
the subject. The subject is selected because the audiences when the information is
class is having lectures and becoming the organizer informative for them. Cognitive effect can
in department annual events, so they are potentially remove ambiguity and attitude formation.
meeting in person and interacting face-to-face. b. Affective effect is higher than cognitive
effect. Audiences are not only being
2. LITERATURE REVIEW informed regarding an information, it is more
2
 than that, this includes sharing the feeling of c. Behavioural effect is the effect occurs in
joy, upset, anger, fear, and others. audiences in the form of behaviours.
Behavioural effect might activate, move, or When someone is involved in a
alleviate an issue (Musfialdy, 2020). conversation or in a direct interaction, the
Phubbing person will choose to look at the
a. Phubbing Definition smartphone
Phubbing is taken from the words 2) Phone Obsession
“phone”and “snubbing”, which mean According to the study of Karadaǧ et al.
“telefon” and“menghina”. In terminology, (2015), the factor of smartphone obsession
phubbing is afocusing attitude on smartphone is that someone always puts the smartphone
continuously during the communication with in his reach and always checks messages on
the interlocutor (Karadaǧ et al., 2015). the smartphone when he woke up (Karadaǧ
Phubbing can be defined as the behaviour of et al., 2015).
someone who is highly depending on Social Interaction
smartphone, making him less concerned Humans are social creatures that require
about the surrounding environment. The social interaction with others. Social
phubbing term is basically occurred since interaction is the basis for the occurrence of
2012 when people have been aware about social processes and activities (Xiao, 2018). In
negative impacts of thisphenomenon. An general, interaction can be defined as mutual
agency such as Mcann alongwith Macquarie connection or reaction between two
dictionary gathered linguists in Sidney individuals or more. While social is related to
University of Australia to put a nameon this the society. Thus, social interaction can be
phenomenon. The name phubbing was defined as the relationship between individuals
eventually coined from the words phone and or groups that communicate to each other.
snubbing. This name has also been officially They conduct social actions to maintain a good
registered in Macquarie dictionary (Akbar et relationship and build relations (Pebriana,
al., 2017). Phubbing can be caused by the 2017).
excessive use of smartphone. Supported by the
accessible internet access so many people According to Max Weber, social interaction
choose to play with their smartphones in public can affect other individuals in behaving
places. The previous experimental study was socially. Therefore, in doing acts, an individual
conducted by Misra, Cheng, Genevie, and has to put his attention to the other individuals
Yuan (2014) regarding the use of smartphone and also consider their presence in the group
in coffee shops. Results indicated that the because social interaction will affect the
visitors of coffee shops check their relationship within the community. Thus, it
smartphones every three to five minutes can be concluded that social interaction is the
regardless of no new notifications (Vetsera & relationship between individuals or groups to
Sekarasih, 2019). communicate and affect each other to achieve
b. Factors of Phubbing certain goals (Pebriana, 2017).
There are two conditions for social
Of various discovered pieces of literature, interaction, namely social contact and
the researcher used the theory of Karadag communication. While factors affecting social
regarding causes of phubbing behaviour, interaction encompass imitation, suggestion,
namely various types of addiction, including identification, and sympathy.
smartphone addiction, internet addiction, social Generation Z
media addiction, and online game addiction By year of birth, Generation Z is the
(Karadaǧ et al., 2015). generation born between 1995-2010. One
c. Phubbing Aspects of the experts that discusses about
generations is Ryder (1965). Ryder defines
According to Karadaǧ et al. (2015), there generations in a more specific way, namely
are two aspects affecting phubbing behaviour, the aggregate of a group of individuals that
including: experiences similar events in the same
1) Communication Disturbance period of time (Putra, 2016). From this
definition, it is indicated that similarities
3
 between generations are not merely those one source (to be compared) with the data from
who born in the same year, but also those other sources (Pawito, 2007). The researcher
who have same histories or events. conducted the source triangulation with an
There are lots of studies that discussed academician, namely Mr. Mufid Salim,
about characteristics of the gen Z. The S.Ikom., M.B.A as a lecturer of
generation that is known as the most Communication Science Department of
familiar with technologies, even tend to be Universitas Ahmad Dahlan.
depending on technologies. According to 4. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Huntley (2006), Generation Z have relished 4.1. Phubbing among Communication Science
technological miracles after the born of Students
internet in any activities of their life From the results of the conducted
(Purwani & Kertamukti, 2020). observations, the researcher often found
There are seven characteristics of phubbing behaviour among
generation Z according to Stillman & Communication Science students of UIN
Stillman (2018), namely Figital, Hyper- Sunan Kalijaga. Then, the researcher
Customization, Realistic, FOMO (Fear of profoundly analysed the issue related to the
Missing Of), Weconomist, Do it Your Self, reason why Communication Science students
Motivated (Purwani & Kertamukti, 2020). who study communication theories and social
3. METHOD interaction are instead often get focused on
This study used a method with a qualitative their smartphones rather than interact directly
approach because it was oriented towards cases with interlocutors. Thus, effective
and contexts. While descriptive study was used communications are not manifested. The
to generate descriptions regarding reality to researcher tried to conduct the initial survey by
provide comprehensions about the reality giving several questions to some informants
(Pawito, 2007). This method is aimed to regarding the phubbing phenomenon. The
explain phenomena profusely. The collected results indicate that most of Communication
data are words, images, and not numbers. The Science Students of UIN Sunan Kalijaga have
data are originated from interview scripts, field yet to know the phubbing term although they
records, photos, videotapes, personal often met and committed phubbing. As
documents, notes or memos, and other official indicated by the interview with an informant as
documents (Moleong, 2007). follows.
In this study, Communication Science “Often. When the lecturer is boring.
students of UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta in Probably like when the lecturer is
the class of 2018-2019 were used as the subject. monotonous and the materials are not
The object of this study was the impact of appealing. Looking at other people’s status,
phubbing in the social interaction of generation scrolling around. In my opinion, phubbing
Z, particularly students of Communication is when you stuck on the phone during a
Science of UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta in conversation or when there is another
the class of 2018-2019. The data collecting person talking. If you focus on the
methods used were interview, observation, and surrounding, you can’t focus on your
documentation. phone, so you have to choose between the
The data analysis method used was the phone or talking with the people around the
Miles and Huberman Punch’s model of environment.”.
interactive analysis technique. This analysis The interview results with the informant are
technique is principally consisting of three relevant to Robert Kaunt’s study (in Sparks,
components, namely data reduction, data 2013:261) that states that individuals who
presentation and withdrawal as well as excessively use their smartphones will have
conclusion testing (Pawito, 2007). The type of short attention span. At this level, they can not
data validity used was source triangulation. understand the delivered information
Source triangulation is the researcher’s effort to comprehensively
access more varied sources to acquire data
related to the same issue. In this technique, the
researcher attempts to test data obtained from
4
 because technologies like smartphone actors, and phubbing actors who are not close
causes some disturbances (Hanika, 2015). to the interlocutor.
The other informant who encountered the As the following informant exposure:
same issue also expressed that some peers in “If this semester also follows the
the Communication Science department often organization and others. So connecting with
conduct phubbing. The phubbing behaviour outsiders is also a lot through smartphones.
that occurs in students of Communication Not only scrolling , like we contact someone,
Science does not completely hinder their continue to other communities. Mostly
social interactions The occurring phubbing Whatsapp. I'm also a public relations officer
behaviour in Communication Science students so there's a lot to be contacted”.
does not completely inhibit their social 4.3. The Impact of Phubbing in Social
interactions. This is because field results Interactions of Communication Science Students
indicated that Communication Science The field study showed that social
students still apply some communication interactions that occurred indirectly are
etiquettes during the direct interaction with ineffective and less intense.
interlocutors. The conducted phubbings were Miscommunications were often happened due
not fully abandoning the ongoing to much focused on smartphone. Such an action
conversation. They only checked their might also cause upsets because you have to
smartphones if there are notifications. repeat what has already been told. This
4.2. The Causative Factors of Phubbing expressed by an informant as follows.
The causative factors of phubbing “it’s like a miscommunication. We have
explained by (Karadaǧ et al., 2015) in their explained, we have talked a lot, and he just
study encompass smartphone addiction, went ‘hah’,’what’?. So we have to repeat
internet addiction, game addiction, and social ourselves again, it’s not as optimal as we
media addiction. Interview results with one said the first time because we have to repeat
informant indicated that many of his friends in what we are saying. We are getting very
Communication Science Department conduct excited during the first talk then the second
phubbing because they are focused on social time the interlocutor just responded like
media. The interview result with one ‘hah, what’s that’, and I was like ‘oh my, do
informant related to phubbing behaviour due I have to repeat myself again’. There must
to social media addiction: be a decrease of value in the message”.
“For instance, during the class at the A study showed that continuous phubbing
campus, if the person is watching live behaviour might affect social relationships
streaming of this versus that, he will even (Amelia et al., 2019). Including the study
reject the class list of presence, he’d be like conducted by Roberts and David (2016) in
‘later, later’, something like that. I saw which phubbing behaviour can improve
people taking selfies and fooling around. It conflicts that indirectly might affect the
doesn’t matter whether there is a lecturer satisfaction towards the relationship and cause
or not. Creating stories, are those one’s depression (Amelia et al., 2019).
categorized as phubbing? There’s a lot of From the results of field interviews, the
them. Many of my friends are like that researcher analysed that phubbing is highly
during lectures. There are many influencing social interactions happen directly.
phenomenon of phubbing. Mostly due to Phubbing also affects the quality of social
gamers, social media, things like that”. relationships amidst Communication Science
Researcher’s findings related to factors students of UIN Sunan Kalijaga. Phubbing
causing phubbing in the environment of does not only affect direct social interaction,
Communication Science students but also affect social life of the phubbing actor.
encompass: phubbing actors who currently in These are the impacts of phubbing occurring
a bad mood condition, students who are busy among Communication Science students:
with their organizations, tedious lecturers 1. Miscommunications
during class lectures, students who are sleepy 2. Decreased value in the message
during the class, phubbing actors who do not conveyed by the communicator
understand the ongoing conversation topic, 3. Decreased quality in friendship
topics that are not appealing for phubbing 4. Social exclusion
5
 5. Becoming a topic among students have many friends online through smartphone.
6. Decreased empathy towards Do not consider that phubbing behaviour is a
the interlocutor normal action in the era of sophisticated
7. Losing information during the ongoing technological advances because this
conversation assumption will become a norm in the
8. Wasting time during the assignment community.
completion
Phubbing also affects the value of the
delivered message because communicators
have to repeat their messages when someone
is phubbing. Phubbing also decreases the
quality of friendship. This condition is caused
by the upset towards phubbing actors because
they often ignored the conversation during the
direct social interaction.
Besides affecting social interactions,
phubbing also causes social exclusion towards
phubbing actors. When a social exclusion
occurs, the phubbing actor becomes the topic
among Communication Science students.
Phubbing also makes someone to lose
empathy towards the interlocutor due to much
focused on the smartphone. Phubbing also
makes someone to lose information because
he ignores the interlocutor when being in a
forum. Being too focused with smartphone
wastes the time, so it could delay the work that
can be completed at that time.
5. CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATION
According to the results of study,
observation, and data collecting on
Communication Science students of UIN
Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta, it can be
concluded that based on research problems,
the impact of phubbing causes social
interactions that happen directly to be
ineffective and makes many
miscommunications.
Future studies about phubbing would be
more appealing if being focused towards other
aspects, such as causative factors of phubbing
or solutions to reduce phubbing behaviour.
From the perspective of research subject, it
will be more developed if a wider community
is used, such as housewives.
The researcher’s recommendation for
generation Z is to be wise in using
technological advances, such as smartphone.
And not to forget that we are social creatures
that require each other. It would be better if
social relationships in the real life are
established properly despite that we could
6
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