When a person starts using their phone, nearly half of those who witness it pick up their own phone.
- When one person takes out their phone, half of the other people present draw theirs within 30 seconds.
- This “chameleon” effect reveals an automatic and subconscious behavior.
- These attitudes tend to isolate socially, especially for people who do not have a phone.
The “chameleon” effect also applies to our use of our mobile phones. This effect refers to spontaneous mimicry in relation to the behavior of others adopted in certain circumstances. One of the best-known examples is that of the contagion of yawning. In this new study, Italian researchers from the University of Pisa found that this “chameleon” effect also applies to people who start using their smartphones. These results were presented on April 17 in the Journal of Ethology.
Half of people pull out their phone within 30 seconds
The researchers studied the behavior of volunteers when a member of the group started using their phone. For this, they observed groups of strangers and groups of people who know each other to examine their reaction when a person began tapping their phone. They recruited 184 participants, including 96 men and 88 women, and studied their behavior across 820 different situations in environments such as parks, restaurants, public transport, waiting rooms and diners. They waited for someone to naturally pull out their phone and start using it to check messages or check social media and counted the number of people who checked their phone within 30 seconds. In other cases, the researchers acted like the person who picked up their phone and started using it, but this time not staring at it.
The researchers found that, overall, half of people who saw someone pick up their phone and start using it did the same within 30 seconds. In the cases where the researchers were the ones who initiated the action, they noticed that far fewer people in turn took out their smartphone since only 0.5% did so. This behavior is not only rapid, since it occurs within 30 seconds, but is also automatic and subconscious since response rates were the same in all groups that participated in the study. “Most people are affected by the behavior of others, even without realizing it.”, says Elisabetta Palagi, author of the study.
Social isolation
For the researchers, these attitudes tend to isolate socially even when people are present together in the same place. “We need to follow the rules imposed on us by the people around us to combine our actions automatically, but smartphones can increase social isolation through the interference and interruption of continuous activities in real life.”, says Elisabetta Palagi. This mimetic habit is even more important for people who don’t have a smartphone. “As a result, these people may feel particularly isolated“, continues the researcher.
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