The Role of Connection Cues for Co-Present Smartphone Use in Everyday Life: Insights from an Experience Sampling Study

Co-present smartphone use—the use of smartphones in the presence of others—is a prevalent behavior in social contexts. However, the situational mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain poorly understood. While previous research has primarily conceptualized co-present smartphone use as a stable individual disposition and focused on person-level determinants, the role of specific situational characteristics has remained largely unexplored. Addressing this gap, the present study investigates co-present smartphone use from a situational perspective, aiming to gain insights into the situational predictors of co-present smartphone use. We conducted an experience sampling study with 87 participants, reporting on 829 social interactions to examine how co-present use is linked to different types of connection cues (technical, spatial, and mental). The findings show that a person's smartphone use during an interaction is related to the smartphone use of others present and the number of notifications received.