These ladies would be smiling even more if they’d put their cell phones away. | Source: Shutterstock

Well, maybe not. A new study says that just being in the presence of a cell phone can actually hinder your interactions with people around you–whether you’re even using the phone or not. No, seriously. It turns out that being too connected to everyone makes us, well, less connected to people closest to us.

Research was done to prove this theory: Scientists got a bunch of volunteers and put two strangers at a time in a room together. The volunteers left their stuff (including their phones) in a waiting area, then sat together in a booth. Not far from the booth–but slightly out of their direct vision–was a desk. For some of the strangers, the desk had a notebook on it, for others, the desk had a cell phone on it. The pairs were asked to chat about an incident in their own lives that had happened recently, then were asked to report how the chat went: They had to rate it in terms of relationship quality and closeness that they’d felt.

Guess what went down? The pairs in the presence of a cell phone–again, that no one even checked–rated their relationship quality and closeness as lower than those who talked near a notepad.

Just in case this was a fluke–after all, people are all different, and not everyone’s a great conversationalist–the researchers did another experiment to see if the context of a conversation had any bearing on the cell phone’s effect on closeness. The scientists gave their volunteers casual topics (plastic trees–dude, really?) and more serious ones (important events in the last year) to chat about. The cell phone’s presence wound up not really affecting the responses of the volunteers who chit chatted about plastic trees, but as for the more serious talkers? It hindered their feelings of closeness and relationship quality quite a bit.

The end conclusion that researchers got? Interacting in a small, intimate environment with others who aren’t on the phone (or checking their FB mobile app, tweeting, or getting Google Alerts about Harry Styles) harbors much more warmth, closeness, and quality time than doing the same with mobile access.

It appears that being connected to the entire planet makes us lose grasp of the connections that are literally right in front of us. Keep that in mind next time you’re tempted to text during a family party, on a date, or hanging with your BFF: If you’re doing it because you’re bored, you’re probably part of the problem! Plus, dude–it’s sorta rude, isn’t it?

Do you think cell phones help or hurt your social life? Have any of your relationships been negatively affected by being on your cell phone? Have you ever gotten into a tiff with someone you’re close with over him or her using his or her cell phone too much–or vice versa? Tell us in the comments!

Uh oh –can you cell phone make you sick?

Online porn can screw up a guy's expectations about sex. | Source: Shutterstock

Maybe, says one study. But it’s not just online porn that may be the culprit, as experts are looking to video games too. Basically, the more time a guy spends in time of a screen, whether it be for Diablo III or online porn, the less social skills he may have in real life. More guys than ever are flunking in school and becoming increasingly awkward to be around and have trouble talking to girls. Yikes!

The video game-rooted problems seem to be mainly about guys trying to rule the world without talking to anyone, because apparently they don’t listen to enough Beyonce (because seriously, girls–we run this mutha). When they’re kicking ass in an RPG, there’s little risk of rejection–unlike when they try to talk to that cute girl (you!) at a party.

That problem carries over into the issues that online porn presents. The prevalence of online porn can be explained a few ways: For one, it’s a lot more easily accessible than it used to be, back when people had to actually go out and buy it (and risk embarrassment and a higher chance of their parents catching them). Another issue online porn poses is immediate gratification–that is, a guy can see a girl naked with a click of a mouse, so why should he bother getting to know a real girl and connecting with her? Because let’s be real, it takes a lot less time to click over to SteamySnatch.com than it does to woo you.

Before online porn, guys had to go to red light districts for steamy scenes. | Source: Shutterstock

The younger a guy gets into online porn, the more potential for damage to his social life becomes. If a dude with no sexual or dating experience only learns about women from online porn, he may have a tough time forming actual romantic or sexual relationships later on because he has no idea how they work.

Unfortunately, the same experts who pointed this out also pointed out that online porn is never gonna go away–and at best we can hope that producers tweak it to make it more romantic.

Here’s hoping, because most of us aren’t stripping for our pizza deliverymen. I mean, unless he’s really hot. (I kid, I kid!)

Do you think online porn addiction is a problem for guys your age? Do you think online porn gives guys false expectations of how sex actually is? Do you feel pressure to compete with online porn for a guy’s attention? Tell us in the comments!

This Girl Watched Porn For The First Time . . . And Liked It!