The Five Facets of Mindfulness & Texting: A Moderation Analysis

ABSTRACT Introduction As technology use becomes more and more popular, there is growing concern about how digital media use may be impacting relationships in a negative way. For example, when individuals become so engrossed in their phone use that they ignore those around them (known in this study as texting immersion). This can be damaging to relationships overall. However, mindfulness may be one solution to mitigating some of the negative implications of texting immersion. Using the Couple and Family Technology Framework, the aim of this study was to determine if mindfulness modifies the relationship between texting frequency and texting immersion. Additionally, this study looked to determine if particular components of mindfulness modified this relationship differently. Method Participants were either college students or adults recruited through undergraduate courses and Amazon MTurk (N = 915). Participants completed online questionnaires assessing mindfulness, texting frequency, and texting immersion. Results Mindfulness as a whole modified the relationship between texting frequency and texting immersion at both low and moderate levels of mindfulness. Additionally, the nonjudging component of mindfulness moderated the relationship as well (at low and moderate levels also). Conclusions & Clinical Implications Understanding how mindfulness modifies the relationship between texting frequency and texting immersion provides clinicians with information regarding how to mitigate negative outcomes associated with problematic texting behaviors. Clinicians may be able to offset some of the negative implications of texting immersion without necessarily requiring a decrease in the frequency of use. Specifically, clinicians can focus on the nonjudging component of mindfulness to help clients be less immersed in their texting behaviors.