Conversational partners’ interactions in response to co-present mobile phone usage

ABSTRACT The goals of the two studies were to identify common communicative responses to co-present mobile phone usage and conversational partners’ reactions to that communication, and to determine whether individuals perceive their communicative responses as effective. Study 1 identified common participant responses and partner (i.e., phone user) reactions to those responses. In Study 2, researchers coded data from a new sample for these same responses and reactions and measured participants’ perceived effectiveness and likelihood to use the same responses again. The most frequent responses were demanding/requesting to stop, asking partner about their phone use, and using humor/sarcasm. Stopping, apologizing and stopping, justifying the use, and continuing to use the phone were the most common partner reactions. Directness of communicative responses was unrelated to reaction valence. Most conversational partner reactions were positive, but when negative, participants rated direct responses as significantly less effective than indirect responses.