Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 181, 10035. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph181910035 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph Article Phubbing and Social Intelligence: Role-Playing Experiment on Bystander Inaccessibility Eerik Mantere 1,2, *, Nina Savela 1 and Atte Oksanen 1 1 Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, 33014 Tampere, Finland; nina.savela@tuni.fi (N.S.); atte.oksanen@tuni.fi (A.O.) 2 Faculty of Sociology, University of Bordeaux, 33000 Bordeaux, France * Correspondence: eerik.mantere@tuni.fi; Tel.: +358-50-525-0878 Abstract: Smartphone use has changed patterns of online and offline interaction. Phubbing (i.e., looking at one’s phone instead of paying attention to others) is an increasingly recognized phenomenon in offline interaction. We examined whether people who phub are more likely to have lower social intelligence, whether phubbing is considered more annoying than being ignored due to reading a magazine, and if people describe smartphones and magazines differently as sources of social distraction. We collected two survey samples (N = 112, N = 108) for a cartoon-based role- playing experiment (the Bystander Inaccessibility Experiment) in which a smartphone user and a person reading a magazine ignored the respondents’ conversational initiatives. Annoyance in each scenario was measured, and written accounts were collected on why the respondents rated the scenarios the way they did. Other measures used included the Generic Scale of Phubbing, Generic Scale of Being Phubbed, and Tromsø Social Intelligence Scale. The results showed that participants in both samples were more annoyed by phubbing than by being ignored due to reading a magazine. Linear regression analyses showed that phubbing was associated with lower social intelligence, even after adjusting for confounding factors. The annoyingness of phubbing was explained with negative attitudes toward smartphones, which were assumed to be used for useless endeavors, while magazines were more appreciated and seen as more cultivating. The role of bystanders’ epistemic access to the smartphone user’s activities is discussed. Keywords: smartphones; phubbing; social intelligence; bystander inaccessibility 1. Introduction Smartphone use is booming. In the United States, 96% of people between the ages of 18 and 29 own a smartphone [1]. Smartphones are used regularly during moments together with friends and family. This has caused much debate on smartphone absorption and politeness [2,3]. This article investigates annoyance caused by smartphone use and inattentiveness in social situations; we focused on how and why people find these situations annoying and whether lower social intelligence is associated with ignoring others by smartphone use. Smartphones have an important quality that sets them apart from other everyday objects: they are used routinely for multiple purposes but give few cues to bystanders about what they are actually being used for. This bystander inaccessibility (BI) makes smartphones uniquely apt in creating socio-cognitive ambiguity on an encounter’s social frame [4]. According to Goffman, frames are fundamental for intersubjectivity and successful interaction in any social situation [5]. People in social situations figuratively ask themselves, “What is it that is going on here?” ([5] p. 7) and use collective understanding of typical types of situations and the types of activities taking place in that particular encounter to find the answer. Interaction derives its meaning from this answer—the local context of interaction, which is renewed continuously through Citation: Mantere, E.; Savela, N.; Oksanen, A. Phubbing predicts lower social intelligence. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 181, 10035. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph1819100 35 Academic Editor: Jimmie Manning Received: 23 August 2021 Accepted: 21 September 2021 Published: 24 September 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses /by/4.0/).