Problematic Smartphone Use and Partner Phubbing in Romantic Relationships: A Critical Narrative Review and Recursive Systemic Model

M. Selenga Gürmen

doi:10.51982/bagimli.625

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Abstract

Smartphone use is embedded in contemporary couple relationships and is not inherently disruptive. Relational difficulties may emerge, however, when smartphone use becomes difficult to regulate or repeatedly displaces attention during interactions in which a partner expects availability. This critical narrative review examines the relationship between problematic smartphone use (PSU) and partner phubbing and proposes a recursive systemic model. Literature identified through searches of PubMed/MEDLINE, Academic Search Ultimate through EBSCOhost, and Google Scholar, supplemented by citation tracing, was critically synthesized across cross-sectional, experimental, daily-diary, dyadic, longitudinal, qualitative, and intervention studies. The evidence indicates that problematic smartphone use (PSU) may increase vulnerability to phone-directed attentional disengagement, but does not by itself determine relational harm. Consequences depend on the context and function of use, couple norms, perceived responsiveness, attachment-related appraisals, and subsequent partner responses. Perceived partner phubbing is more consistently associated with relationship outcomes than self-reported enacted behavior, while shared or integrated phone use may reduce adverse effects. Partner phubbing is linked most consistently with lower relationship satisfaction and with disruptions in communication, intimacy, affection, and responsiveness; it may also contribute to jealousy, surveillance, conflict, withdrawal, and retaliatory phone use. Nevertheless, causal and longitudinal evidence remains limited, and findings support components of a reciprocal process more strongly than a complete causal pathway. A recursive systemic model is proposed in which individual vulnerabilities, interactional meanings, and couple responses mutually influence phone use and relational distress. Research and clinical practice should therefore move beyond screen time toward the regulation, meaning, and organization of smartphone use.

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Published

September 15, 2026

Issue

Vol. 27 No. 3 (2026)

Section

Review

How to Cite

Gürmen, M. S. (2026). Problematic Smartphone Use and Partner Phubbing in Romantic Relationships: A Critical Narrative Review and Recursive Systemic Model. Journal of Dependence, 27(3), 216-233. https://doi.org/10.51982/bagimli.625

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216-233

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