Advances in Social Science and Culture ISSN 2640-9682 (Print) ISSN 2640-9674 (Online) Vol. 1, No. 2, 2019 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/assc 143 Original Paper The Effect of Mobile Phone Use on Social Interactions among Millennials: An Ethnographic Study Michael P. LaBella 1 , Sufyan Mohammed-Baksh 2 & Hyuk Jun Cheong 2* 1 Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A. 2 Department of Communication & Media, University of Scranton, Scranton, PA, U.S.A. * Hyuk Jun Cheong, Department of Communication & Media, University of Scranton, Scranton, PA, U.S.A. Received: July 16, 2019 Accepted: August 6, 2019 Online Published: August 10, 2019 doi:10.22158/assc.v1n2p143 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/assc.v1n2p143 Abstract The use of mobile phones among Millennials has grown to alarmingly high rates thereby affecting face-to-face social interactions and group dynamics. This ethnographic research study observed 150 individuals in real world, social group setting, ranging from dyads to groups of four. Analysis found that a majority of the individuals in groups participated in mobile phone interactions and some even spent more time on their mobile devices than did interacting with other members of the group. Analysis also found significant incidents of shared mobile phone use and reduced offline social interactions among individuals. Keywords ethnography, ethnographic research, millennials, mobile marketing, face-to-face communication, and social interactions 1. Introduction 1.1 Ethnography and Ethnographic Research Ethnographic research is a cross-disciplinary, qualitative research method initially used by the disciplines of anthropology and sociology, and evolving to be used in several other areas such as psychology, business, health science, and even computer and information sciences (Goodman, 2011). Schensul, Schensul, and LeCompte (1999) best describes ethnographic research as “an approach to learning about social and cultural life of communities, institutions, and other settings” (p. 1). An important element of ethnography is its attempt to accurately record detailed qualitative information in addition to quantitative data in an attempt to reach an intimate understanding of human behaviors